NewDelhi:India’sT20captainShreyasIyerstatedonSaturdaythatpacespearheadJaspritBumrahrequiresmatchpracticeduringthethree-matchseriesagainstAfghanistantorebuildconfidencefollowingaspellonthesidelineswithaninjury.
BumrahwasincludedintheIndiansquadfortheAfghanistanseriesatNewDelhi’sArunJaitleyStadium,whichbeginsSunday,pendingafinalmedicalclearance.
ThefastbowlerbowledatfullintensityduringFriday’strainingsessionandappearslikelytobeincludedinthestartingline-upfortheopeningfixture.
“Hehasplayedsomuchcricketovertheyears.Heisimmenselyexperienced,butattheendoftheday,ifyouwouldaskmeasanindividualwhoiscomingoutofaninjury,Iwouldwantmoregametimeandmoreconfidenceleadinguptoacertaintournament,”Iyertoldreporters.
“Iinteractedwithhimyesterday,andheisinthatmindsetwherehewantstocomeandperformfortheteamandseetoitthatwewinchampionships.”
The32-year-oldBumrahhasbeenoutofactionsincethesecondOne-DayInternationalagainstEnglandinCardiffon16Julyaftersufferinganimpactinjury.
WithBumrah’sreturnattractingconsiderablefocus,AfghanistancaptainIbrahimZadranremarkedthathisteamispreparedtofacetheIndianbowler.
“Heisoneofthebest;heismyfavouritefastbowler,”saidZadran.
“Weasagroupnevercomplicatethingsforourselves.Wehaveaverygoodplanforhim.HopefullywecanplaybettercricketagainstJaspritBumrahandtheIndiancricketteam.”
Afghanistan,whohaveregularlyutilisedvenuesacrossIndiaandtheUnitedArabEmiratesfortheirhomefixtures,willofficiallyserveasthehostnationforthebilateralseries.
Indiafaceadditionalselectionconsiderationsregardingtheirtop-ordercombination,withIyeracknowledgingitwillprovea”toughcall”todecidebetweenSanjuSamson,AbhishekSharma,and15-year-oldbatterVaibhavSooryavanshi.
“Allthreeofthem,havingthemintheteamisaluxuryfirstofall,andtheyareflawlessintheirowndepartments,”saidIyer.
“Well,itisgoingtobeatightcallbecausetheyhavebeenperformingconsistently.Andsee,whoevergetstheopportunity,it’sdefinitelyfortheteam’sbenefit.”