T20 World Cup: Till the time Bumrah is not officially ruled out, we will always be hopeful, says Dravid

Guwahati, Oct 1 (IANS) India head coach Rahul Dravid on Saturday said that injured Jasprit Bumrah is in National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the team management is waiting for official confirmation on the next steps, adding that till the time pacer is not officially ruled out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, they will always be hopeful.

The 28-year-old pacer has been ruled out of the ongoing T20I series against South Africa with a back injury which has cast doubt over his participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

Bumrah missed the Asia Cup due to the same injury but made his return in the T20I series against Australia. Though he missed the first game, he was available for the final two matches which India won to win the series.

Unfortunately, ahead of the first T20I against South Africa, BCCI provided an update that Bumrah complained of back pain during the practice session on Tuesday, thus ruling him out of the first T20I and eventually the series.

"As of now, officially he has been ruled out of the T20 series against South Africa. He has gone to the NCA and we are waiting for an official confirmation on the next steps," said Dravid about Bumrah in the press conference ahead of the second T20I.

"As of now, officially he is only ruled out of this series, and we will see what happens in the next 2-3 days but once we get an official confirmation, then we will be able to share that," he added.

Quizzed further on the nature of Bumrah's injury, Dravid said he doesn't go deeply into the medical reports and relies on the experts.

"I don't go deeply into the medical reports, I rely on the experts to tell me what it is," the coach said.

"They ruled him out of this series and he is being assessed. You will know in due course what happens in the future. Till the time he is not officially ruled out, we will always be hopeful and we will hope for the best," he added.

As it stands, Bumrah is in a race against time with the India squad departing for Australia on October 6 for the T20 World Cup. They will play two warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand ahead of the main tournament.

The Rohit Sharma-led side will begin its T20 World Cup campaign on October 23 with a game against archrivals Pakistan in Melbourne, which will be followed by matches on October 27 (vs Qualifier in Sydney), October 30 (vs South Africa in Perth), November 2 (vs Bangladesh in Adelaide) and November 6 (vs qualifier in Melbourne).