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India skipper Rohit Sharma is hoping that star pacer Jasprit Bumrah who has been out of action since September last year, can get enough playing time before the ODI World Cup in October this year.
Jasprit Bumrah has been out of action since September 2022 owing to his injury and missed the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. He also missed the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, a tournament in which he represents Mumbai Indians (MI).
Rohit reiterated Bumrah's importance and said that they are in constant touch with the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
"He (Bumrah) has loads of experience and that experience will be crucial for us," said Rohit.
"He is coming back from a long injury and I don’t know whether he will play in the Ireland T20Is. But we will try to give him as much game time as possible before the World Cup," Rohit said in a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
"When you’re returning from such a big injury, you don’t have that match practice and match fitness. So the more he plays, the better it is for himself as well as the team. We are in constant touch with the NCA and he looks good at the moment," the India skipper added.
Last week the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) provided medical updates on star pacer and released a statement.
Rohit also discussed the Indian team's injury problems in their ODI setup and the need for having backups available.
"You need experience when you go into big tournaments. But when there are injuries, you just don’t know what you can do about it. Quite a few players are injured from our team but we try to identify players who are going to play in the World Cup and give them as many matches as possible so that they get the experience. Along with focusing on the XI, we need to focus on other 15-20 players too because anyone can get injured," the India opener added.
The first match of the three ODIs against West Indies will be played on Thursday at Kensington Oval.