'As of now, he has been officially ruled out of this T20 series of South Africa for these two games. He has gone to the NCA and we are waiting for the official confirmation on the next steps.'
Indian head coach Rahul Dravid is not ready to give up on injured Jasprit Bumrah and expects the pacer to be fit in time for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022.
Bumrah had sustained a back injury and was being monitored by their medical team at the NCA.
"I have not gone deeply into the medical reports. I rely on the experts to tell me what it is. They ruled him out for this series and he is being assessed. We will know in due course what happens in the future. Obviously, till he is completely ruled out, till I get official confirmation that he is ruled out, we will always be hopeful. We will always hope for the best for us as a team and also for Jasprit as an individual. We will always hope for the best," said Rahul Dravid in the pre-match press conference ahead of the second T20I against South Africa.
On Wednesday, the pacer was rushed to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru from Thiruvananthapuram to undergo scans for his back injury after being ruled out of the ongoing three-match T20I series against South Africa.
"As of now, he has been officially ruled out of this T20 series of South Africa for these two games. He has gone to the NCA and we are waiting for the official confirmation on the next steps. We will see what happens in next few days and once we get some official confirmation and we will be able to share that with you," added Rahul Dravid.
Mohammed Siraj was named as the replacement for injured Bumrah for the remainder of the T20I series against South Africa.