Former Indian batter Mohammed Kaif reckons Team India has a great chance of winning the ODI World Cup if Jasprit Bumrah is fully fit. Bumrah will return to action in the three-match T20I series against Ireland after a long hiatus due to injury.
Bumrah had played a T20 match for the national team back in September 2022 against Australia and then went on to miss the T20 World Cup due to a back injury.
Bumrah has finally recovered after undergoing knife and he is all set to lead India on the upcoming tour of Ireland, where the team will play three T20Is in Dublin. The selectors want to keep Bumrah’s workload to be minimum and thus have included him in the T20I team before adding him into the 50-overs setup.
There is no doubt that Bumrah is going to hold the key for India in the upcoming home World Cup. Bumrah has produced great numbers in the ODI version, picking 121 wickets in 72 appearances at an impressive average of 24.31 and an economy rate of 4.64. But it is not going to be a cakewalk for him to hit the ground running at the International level after being out of action for such a long time.
Meanwhile, India has lost the first two T20Is against the West Indies but Kaif is not too bothered by these two losses as key players are missing and India is playing with an inexperienced squad.
“India has lost just two matches (T20Is against West Indies), so we do not need to get overly concerned. I am seeing a lot of negative reaction after the two losses. But I will only say that our team is extremely competitive.
“I am not going to judge (India) on two back-to-back losses (in the West Indies). The only thing is that key players are missing.
“Bumrah missing is the biggest factor. If he recovers fullyâ€æ one aspect is to complete the recovery and the other aspect is to gain match fitness. If he regains that (match fitness), it will be a massive gain for Team India.
“If Bumrah is fully fit, we have a great chance of winning the World Cup at home,” said Kaif.
The first T20I between India and Ireland will be played at the Village, Dublin on 18th August.
