MUMBAI, Feb 6 : India seam bowler Harshit Rana is doubtful for the Twenty20 World Cup with a thigh injury but skipper Suryakumar Yadav said they have enough depth in the squad to deal with any such exigency.
Rana, who has also developed into a handy lower-order batter, sustained the injury during a warm-up match against South Africa on Wednesday when he bowled just one over before leaving the field.
“He is not ruled out yet,” Suryakumar said ahead of Saturday’s Group A contest against the United States.
“He was not looking good after the warm-up match. He’s being assessed by the physios. But I think, today we’ll know what’s going to happen. But it doesn’t look good, it’s not great.”
Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are likely to share the new ball duty, while India also have seam-bowling all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.
“It’s a big blow obviously because you make a squad of 15 players with a lot of combinations in mind,” Suryakumar said.
“If he is not available for us going forward, then we will set other combinations. We have enough players…”
Rana’s replacement need not have his batting ability, the India captain said.
“There is no hard-and-fast rule that he has to bat (well).
“If you expect your number nine or 10 to come and hit sixes, then what is your expectation from the top eight preceding him?
“We do have a few options but we will pick the best one.”
India are bidding to be the first team in the tournament’s history to successfully defend their title and also be the first host to win a T20 World Cup.
