India’s fast bowler Deepak Chahar is reportedly ruled out of the upcoming T20 World Cup due to a back injury. Chahar will become India’s second seamer to be ruled out of the T20 World Cup with a back issue after Jasprit Bumrah.

The swing pacer was earlier ruled out of the ODI series against South Africa due to an ankle injury. However, a BCCI source has confirmed that while Chahar’s ankle is now fine but he will miss the flight to Australia due to a recurrence of a back injury.

Shardul Thakur is all set to replace Deepak Chahar, who was earlier named among the standby players in the T20 World Cup squad. Chahar had returned to action in the ODI series against Zimbabwe after a long hiatus after recovering from a hamstring injury, which he had suffered earlier in the year.

“Deepak will take some time to get fit. His back issue has flared up again. His ankle is fine and there wasn’t any problem there. So BCCI is sending three reinforcements. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur,” a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Meanwhile, it is expected that either Mohammed Siraj or Mohammed Shami will replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the main squad. While Siraj scalped five wickets in three ODI matches against South Africa, Shami hasn’t played any competitive cricket in recent times. Shami is currently part of the standby players in the T20 World Cup squad.

The Indian team has started their preparation in Perth ahead of their opening fixture against Pakistan, which will be played at the iconic MCG on 23rd October.

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.

Standby players -Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar (reportedly ruled out).