Rohit Sharma-led Team India will play against Australia next in a three-match T20I series, beginning Tuesday in Mohali. Ahead of the match, skipper Rohit Sharma addressed a press conference on Sunday where he revealed the reason behind Umesh Yadav’s selection. This came as just before the series opener, it was confirmed that India speedster Mohammed Shami won’t take part as he has tested positive for COVID-19 and Umesh Yadav has been named as his replacement as well.
“There were few options, but few of them are injured like Prasidh. Siraj is playing county, we do not want him to fly all the way, maybe play one or two games. That won’t be fair. Obviously, Shami unfortunate incident with him. Avesh was quite sick in the Asia Cup and he needs some time to recover. From fitness point of view, he needed some time and rebuild his fitness. All those things were considered. Guys like Umesh, Shami, who have been bowling for a long time, they do not need to be playing a format to be considered,” said Rohit Sharma in the press conference.
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“They have proven themselves as players in whichever format they have played. We understand the quality, it is the new guys on whom it will depend whether they have played this format or not. But guys like Umesh and Shami, if they are fit and fine, they will be called back. We don’t need to look at their form, we saw how Umesh bowled in the IPL,” he further added.
While talking about Umesh’s selection, Rohit said that the pacer can bowl fast and he has the ability to swing the ball as well.
“He bowled really well, he swings the ball, bowls fast. That was the thought, pretty simple actually. It was not much of a discussion for us. Keeping in mind World Cup is around the corner, we have tried a lot of players. We are very much clear in our thought process and how we want to move forward,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
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India squad for the Australia series: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav.
