India vs South Africa: Indian pacers look to impress in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence as Guwahati gears up for 2nd T20I | Cricket News – Times of India

A day after India’s leading bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the remaining two matches of the T20I series against visiting South Africa, his replacement Mohammed Siraj, along with senior pacer Umesh Yadav, bowled their hearts out at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati ahead of the second match on Sunday.
Bumrah, in all likelihood, is set to miss the upcoming T20 World Cup Down Under and that possibility was enough to add extra fuel to the pace duo’s efforts in hot and humid condition.
Not in the original squad for the big-ticket event, Siraj and Yadav breathed fire at the nets during an optional practice session on Friday.

“The all-India senior selection committee named Mohd. Siraj as replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah for the remainder of the T20I series against South Africa. Bumrah has sustained a back injury and is currently under the supervision of the BCCI medical team,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah said in a statement issued by the board on Friday morning.
While most of the regular players, including skipper Rohit Sharma, vice-captain KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and in-form Suryakumar Yadav decided to skip the afternoon practice session, wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik, along with Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel, sweated it out.

The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) is all prepared to welcome the teams in front of a packed stadium on Gandhi Jayanti.The weather forecast for the match day is also mostly clear, but ACA is battle ready to make sure the game goes ahead in case the sky opens.
The last match in Barsapara – an India vs Sri Lanka T20I – was abandoned without a ball being bowled in January 2020 due to untimely heavy downpour. Armed with two imported pitch covers from the US, ACA seems well prepared this time.

ACA officials said they also have around 20 covers at their disposal, apart from the super lightweight imported ones.