Bumrah, Shami will be missed, but good opportunity for others to perform: Paras Mhambrey

Chattogram [Bangladesh], December 13 (ANI): Ahead of the opening Test against Bangladesh, India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said that they would miss the service of veteran bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami but pointed out that it is a great opportunity for other players to step up and perform for their team.
India will be without a host of veteran players when they take on Bangladesh in a two-Test series that begins on Wednesday, with Rahul filling in as skipper for the injured Rohit Sharma (finger) and fellow veterans Jasprit Bumrah (back), Mohammad Shami (shoulder) and Ravindra Jadeja (knee) also on the sidelines.
The star names missing from India’s squad are Bumrah (back), Shami (shoulder injury) and Ravindra Jadeja (knee injury). These star players have failed to recover in time and have been ruled out of both Tests.
Navdeep Saini and Saurabh Kumar have been named as replacements for these players. India have also drafted fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat into the 17-man squad.
“One good thing is a lot of these guys are playing. Look at the bowlers that we have right now, Siraj has played a lot of cricket and Umesh has played a lot too, Saini has played a couple of games in the A series that has recently concluded which is good so everyone is in touch. As far as others missed out there is Bumrah and Shami definitely will be missed. We also look at this as an opportunity that the others have a chance to play cricket and perform for the team,” Paras Mhambrey said in a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
India’s other pace options for the Test series include Navdeep Saini, Jaydev Unadkat, and Shardul Thakur in addition to Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj.
In place of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for the Tests against Bangladesh, Paras Mhambrey has picked Umesh Yadav as the leading paceman. He also praised Mohammed Siraj for making the most of his Test-level opportunity.
“Umesh Yadav becomes a spearhead for us now. He has a lot of experience with him going into the Test match. Also happy with the way Siraj has delivered in Test cricket. He has won Test matches for us. A lot is expected from Umesh, but it is also a great opportunity for Siraj to fill in. Every Test match from hereon is extremely important for us (keeping WTC final in mind),” he further stated.
The choice of whether to field three seamers or a third spinner in the first Test is one of the important choices India will have to make. When questioned about the same, Mhambrey declined to provide any information on the team composition.
“We’ll look at the surface. We saw the wicket yesterday. We played one game here, it was a flat wicket. From a bowling perspective, we know we have to work very hard to take 20 wickets. Depending on the surface, we will see whether to go with three seamers or three spinners. The trend here over the last 2-3 years has seen high-scoring games.”
The two-match Test series will start from December 14 onwards while the second Test will be held in Mirpur on December 22.
“As you already mentioned that we are playing Test cricket after a while. Takes a little while to adjust to have that mental change as well. Discussions are going on, we have spoken about it nicely and lengthy discussions are going on. That happens to a lot of teams as well, from playing at the T20 World Cup to coming out here to play Test cricket is important for us from our point of view. With the experienced team that we have everyone is aware of what their role is and how important the series is for us.
With Rohit Sharma ruled out of the first Test due to a thump injury, KL Rahul will lead the squad in the opening game against Bangladesh in the two-match series.
India’s updated squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar and Jaydev Unadkat. (ANI)