Bumrah's absence is big loss, will miss him: Dravid

Indore: India head coach Rahul Dravid on Tuesday admitted that Jasprit Bumrah’s absence from the upcoming T20 World Cup due to a back injury is a “big loss” for the team but said it opens up an opportunity for some other player to stand up and perform.

The BCCI on Monday announced that pace spearhead Bumrah will miss the showpiece event in Australia, dealing a blow to the Indian team which has been facing problems in death overs bowling.

“Bumrah’s absence is a big loss, he’s been a great player but it happens, it’s an opportunity for someone else to stand up. We’ll miss him, his personality around the group,” said Dravid after India won the three-match T20I series against South Africa 2-1.

“Good to get the right results in both series (against SA and Australia). In this format, you need luck, things to go your way, especially in close games. We didn’t have that in the Asia Cup, but had some luck during the Australia series.”

India lost the third and final T20I against South Africa by 49 runs but won the series 2-1. They had defeated Australia with a similar margin earlier this month.

“We were able to rotate the squad a bit, pleased with how it’s gone overall.”

Talking about the new aggressive batting approach of the team, Dravid said, “We made a decision after the last T20 WC, sat down with Rohit, made a conscious effort to be positive.

“We have the batsmanship to play positively, we had to structure our squad with batting depth. Pleased with the way we’ve come along.”

With the series already in the bag even before Tuesday’s match, senior players Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were rested. Rishabh Pant opened the innings and Dinesh Karthik was promoted to No.4 to get more time in the middle.

“Today was an opportunity to give guys who haven’t had much batting to get some time. It’s hard on guys like Rishabh, Dinesh. Wish both of them could’ve continued, they were batting beautifully,” said Dravid.

“4-5 overs more and it could’ve been a lot closer. Happy with the way we kept going, Harshal and Deepak and the other guys.