Former Indian all-rounder, Suresh Raina has opined that the fiery pacer, Mohammad Shami can’t be termed as the best replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian T20 World Cup squad. During a recent conversation with NDTV, Raina said he would not call him a perfect replacement since it was impossible to replace a blower like Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian line-up.

Suresh Raina said, “I would not call him a perfect replacement because you cannot replace Jasprit Bumrah or Ravindra Jadeja. They have played consistently for India, and they have given performances.”

ALSO READ: Harbhajan Singh opens up on Mohammed Shami’s role in T20 World Cup

After Bumrah was ruled out of contention for the T20 World Cup, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Siraj were touted to be replacements. While Siraj has been doing consistently well over the past few months, Shami’s memorable final against Australia in the T20 World Cup warm-up game might tip the latter’s favor.

Talking about Shami further, Suresh Raina said that the player is the best option among the three cricketers but the players will have to back up their selection with fearless performances.

Concluding his statement, Suresh Raina said, “But the best option you had, you have selected him. Shami has given good performances, he has been in good form. BCCI has done really well in sending the team to Australia 15 days prior to the tournament. The grounds are big, overall I think the preparation has been nice. We will need to play fearless cricket and show good intent.”

ALSO READ: Aakash Chopra Feels If India Don’t participate Asia Cup Will Not Happen

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami.

Standby Players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.