An unwanted news has come out of the Indian camp, as star pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to miss India’s T20 World Cup 2026 opener against the USA. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side will begin their march towards the silverware at the Wankhede Stadium tonight (Feb 7) but Bumrah won’t be available due to viral fever. Meanwhile, as hinted by the Indian captain in the press conference as well, Ishan Kishan is set to pip Sanju Samson to partner Abhishek Sharma in the opening slot as well.
Who replaces Jasprit Bumrah?
As per the Indian Express, Bumrah won’t be rushed and will be given a break to recover fully from his fever. Even though his temperature goes down as well, the Gautam Gambhir-led management shouldn’t go hard on Bumrah anyway. After all, he is India’s national treasure, as mentioned by Virat Kohli in the celebrations of the T20 World Cup 2024. In that tournament, Bumrah was simply unplayable. He recorded 15 wickets at an unbelievable economy rate of 4.17. Him taking a wicket every 11.8 balls helped India go unbeaten in the entire tournament.
Now, the question arises: who replaces Jasprit Bumrah in the IND vs USA game? Well, the answer should be pretty simple. It is Mohammed Siraj. The Hyderabad pacer just joined the Indian team after replacing Harshit Rana, who is ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury. Fascinatingly for Siraj, he may find a spot in the starting XI right from the first match. Two days ago, nobody would’ve thought that Siraj might open the bowling for India at the T20 World Cup 2026.
“Following consultations with a specialist and subsequent scans, the BCCI medical team deemed him unfit to participate in the tournament. The team management wishes him a speedy recovery. Mohd. Siraj will join the team as Harshit’s replacement in the squad,” BCCI had stated in its press release.
Ishan Kishan vs Sanju Samson debate settled
Meanwhile, the report also suggests that India’s openers are set in the form of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. While this isn’t a surprise, it is perhaps the final nail in the coffin for the Sanju Samson fans. The entire script was flipped in the India vs New Zealand series when Kishan outclassed Samson in every metric.
Samson looked awful. It was both technical and mental. The batter from Kerala scored 46 runs in 5 innings against New Zealand. Whereas Kishan was surreal throughout the series, scoring 215 runs at an extraordinary strike rate of 231.18. He capped the series with a scintillating T20I hundred, his first in the format. In India’s only warm-up game against South Africa, it was Kishan and not Samson who opened the innings.
Even in the warm-up, Kishan was superb to watch, taking the game to the Protea pacers and forming a threatening opening pair with Samson. He made Samson look a thing of past.
India’s Predicted XI vs USA
- Abhishek Sharma
- Ishan Kishan (WK)
- Tilak Varma
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Hardik Pandya
- Shivam Dube
- Rinku Singh
- Axar Patel
- Varun Chakaravarthy
- Arshdeep Singh
- Mohammed Siraj
- On bench: Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar (hasn’t joined team yet)
Cricket
No Jasprit Bumrah in IND vs USA T20 World Cup game; Ishan Kishan vs Sanju Samson debate settled
