A knee injury sustained recently while playing for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy tournament could prevent young Gujarat medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah from taking the field tomorrow for India A in their tour game against the visiting Sri Lankans here
A knee injury sustained recently while playing for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy tournament could prevent young Gujarat medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah from taking the field tomorrow for India A in their tour game against the visiting Sri Lankans here.
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Jasprit Bumrah
"There is a minor concern about Jasprit (Bumrah). He is going for an MRI now for a knee sprain that he said he had picked up during the Duleep Trophy. He bowled off a shorter run up today," said team's coach Sanjay Bangar at the Brabourne Stadium today.
The 20-year-old Ahmedabad-born bowler played in both the one-day tour games for India A against the West Indians at the same venue earlier this month and took 1 for 46 and 2 for 43.
On Rohit Sharma's fitness, Bangar said the Mumbai stalwart looked fine while batting. "Battingwise he's fine, fieldingwise we have to monitor him a bit," said Bangar referring to the middle-finger injury that has kept the stroke playing batsman out of action since he picked it up in the first ODI in England.
Sharma, after his injury rehabilitation, started practising ten days ago and had an extensive net session yesterday at the BKC ground before batting for close to 45 minutes today at the nets.
Looking ahead to the match, Bangar said it was yet another opportunity for the players to show their worth against a touring side.
"Most of these players have been tried and tested and are proven performers. Obviously that is important with the World Cup around the corner. It's a nice opportunity for players to give a reminder (to selectors) they are there and in good nick.
"All the boys have done well - some of them in Duleep and some others for India A against the West Indies and I don't believe in putting too much pressure on them," added the former India player.
Captain Manoj Tiwary said that the two one-day games that India A played against the West Indies in this city has raised the confidence level of Delhi opener Unmukt Chand, who performed well in both the matches.
"I look at it, that is playing against any touring side, as a great opportunity. We did well against the West Indies which has given lot of confidence to players who had performed well against them. Their game has changed into next level," said Tiwary.
"I can see that confidence in Unmukt Chand's batting as well. It's good to play all these matches as you can understand where you are placed in the career," said the 28-year-old Bengal middle-order batsman.
Chand smashed 79 not out off 81 balls in the first game against the Windies and then powered his way to 101 off 111 balls two days later to play a significant role in India A team's back-to-back wins over the visiting Windies side.
Tiwary felt that with the World Cup coming up soon, the game has provided another platform for the India A team members to make the selectors sit up and take notice.
"It's a very important game. This year the schedule has been done (altered) to give a lot of opportunities for domestic players as well as India A players to score runs and make their case stronger for selection," said Tiwary who has played just 9 ODIs in his injury-hit career.
Tiwary said on paper the Lankan team looked strong, when asked whether the Emerald islanders had the edge over the West Indies who aborted their tour midway following a pay dispute with their parent Board.
"I would say that they (West Indies) did not play well against us. We bowled really well and took advantage of the conditions here. On paper Sri Lanka have a good team."
On his own start-stop career because of the spate of injuries, Tiwary said these setbacks have made him mentally stronger.
"It was a tough time for me to deal with all these injuries, go into rehab on a long term. But these have (also) made me a better person and mentally stronger. It's not easy but I have left those behind and have to concentrate on the present. I am also consciously working on my fitness."
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