T20 World Cup 2022: "You suddenly start to think whether this is serious"- Sanjay Bangar on Jasprit Bumrah's injury

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar claimed that he had a rough idea about the severity of Jasprit Bumrah's injury when he wasn't straightaway brought back into India's playing XI despite being deemed fit.

Bumrah was named in the T20I squad for the series against Australia and South Africa, and it was claimed that he had passed the fitness tests at the NCA. However, when the speedster didn't play the matches in Mohali as well as in Thiruvananthapuram, there was a debate on whether Bumrah was really fit or whether he was rushed back into the scheme of things.

Speaking to Star Sports, here's what Bangar had to say about how he felt when he heard Jasprit Bumrah was not playing against Australia:

“There were really small signs of concern, because when Jasprit Bumrah did not play the first match, then he played the second game, and then suddenly, he was rested. You suddenly start to think whether this is serious, because he had been out on rest and rehab for a long time and he was somebody who was given a task of strengthening."

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Sanjay Bangar on Indian bowling attack without Jasprit Bumrah

Sanjay Bangar feels that as Jasprit Bumrah has been a genuine wicket-taker, the opposition always used to be wary of playing out his overs carefully without letting him provide breakthroughs.

However, now that he isn't available for the T20 World Cup, teams can change their approach and be more aggressive from the get-go. Bangar is hopeful that Bumrah's absence will not hurt India much, as he feels other bowlers need to step up in his absence.

On this, he stated:

"It comes as a huge blow because an Indian attack without Bumrah means that a lot of teams will start thinking differently as to how they would approach their batting against the Indian bowling attack. Hopefully, maybe a Deepak Chahar or Shami or Arshdeep can be there and leave a mark on the World Cup Down Under.”

Will India start the T20 World Cup as underdogs without Bumrah? Let us know in the comments.