In what will be a major blow to the Indian team, premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah could be ruled out of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 due to a back injury, reported ESPNcricinfo.

The 28-year-old had missed the Asia Cup and not played international cricket since July due to injury. He then made a comeback in the T20I series against Australia recently, but didn’t travel with the team to Thiruvananthapuram for the series opener against South Africa.

This is what the BCCI stated before the first T20I against South Africa: “Jasprit Bumrah complained of back pain during India’s practice session on Tuesday. The BCCI Medical Team assessed him. He is ruled out of the first IND vs SA T20I.”

Now, it has been learnt that Bumrah has a stress fracture and could be out of action for months.

With Ravindra Jadeja being sidelined due to a knee injury, this will be the second big setback for the Indian team as they build towards the T20 World Cup, which will begin in Australia on October 16.

Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar had been named as standby players for the T20 World Cup and one of them will likely be drafted into the squad. Since India have already qualified for the Super 12 stage, they can make changes to their squad without permission from the International Cricket Council till October 15.

India’s T20 World Cup squad as of now: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.

Reserve players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.