Won't go deep in medical reports, will wait for official confirmation: Dravid on Bumrah
Guwahati, Oct 1: Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss the T20 World Cup due to an injury but head coach Rahul Dravid on Saturday said he won't go deep into his medical reports and will wait for an official confirmation regarding his availability for the showpiece in Australia.
India suffered a big setback when their pace spearhead Bumrah was ruled out of their final preparatory series against South Africa due to stress fracture in his lower back.
"We are awaiting the official confirmation on the next steps. As of now, he's officially ruled out of this (SA) series. But we will see what happens over the next few days," Dravid told reporters on the eve of the second T20I against South Africa.
Usually a stress fracture in the back takes about six months to heal completely but Dravid said they are still "hopeful".
"Honestly, I've 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's being assessed. We will know in due course what happens in the future," the 49-year-old said.
"Obviously till he's completely ruled out, and we get an official confirmation that he's ruled out, we will always be hopeful. We will always hope for the best just for us as a team and Jasprit as an individual."
Bumrah, who has been out of action since the India tour of England in July, had recently made a comeback during the home T20I series against Australia but the 28-year-old has been forced to head back to the National Cricket Academy for rehab again.
Bumrah's spate of injuries, despite his workload being carefully looked after by the think-tank, has become a matter of debate.
Bumrah played all the 14 IPL matches for his franchise Mumbai Indians and since then he only featured in six Internationals in four months.
Doing rehab at the NCA, Bumrah made a comeback in the preceding Australia series where he played two matches and travelled with the team to Thiruvananthapuram for the 1st T20I against South Africa only to be ruled out ahead of the game.
"To a large extent we manage to get everything. Not everything will be perfect. It happens, it's part and parcel of the game, we are not the only team which suffers from injuries.
"Obviously if they happen closer to big tournaments they can upset your plans a little bit. Everyone is making good efforts to minimise the injuries as much as possible."
The workload management and their experiments in the build-up to the World Cup may have come in for a lot of criticism but Dravid chose to keep away from the "noise".
"I know there is a little bit of noise from the outside but in the group, communication has been very good and there's clarity. It's a bit unrealistic to expect us to keep playing the same guys over and over again, sometimes they are forced upon you -- like Bumrah.
"We played the same XI against South Africa in June if you remember, and people kept saying why don't they change. But in the group we're very sure of what we are doing.
"Sometimes, there are a lot of things people won't know from outside, what are the niggles, how we are going to manage, how we are preparing for a Test when there's a series in Ireland. It's hard to just explain."
There has been a lot of debate on who is going to replace Bumrah if he is officially ruled out as only two weeks are left for their World Cup warm-up fixture against Australia.
But Dravid said they are in their comfort zone, having got all the skill sets for different conditions and rival sides in Australia.
"We are quite comfortable that we have got all the skills that allow us to play different combinations and different kinds of XIs based on the wickets and oppositions. That's really important in a World cup when you play in 4-5 different venues.
"You need to have that little bit of versatility and flexibility in your squad that allows you to change things.
"Over the last few series, we probably have not been able to play that squad due to a variety of reasons. But most of the guys in the 15 now have had a pretty decent amount of cricket in the last six months."
Dravid said they have absolute clarity on the roles assigned to each of the players in the World Cup-bound squad.
"Within the group, within the team, we have been pretty clear about the kind of combinations we want, the kind of players that we are likely to play in the XI. You can't pick an XI months in advance, you don't know the wicket, and what it's like.
"We have been pretty clear about the skills we want in the 15. For me, that is really important. The kind of squad we pick to the World cup, barring injuries, what were the skills that we are looking for, different kinds of bowlers, certain batting skills, we have been very clear about."
Happy with Harshal progress
Having returned to action after overcoming a rib injury, death overs specialist Harshal Patel has leaked runs in the series against Australia.
But Dravid was happy with his progress.
"We're very happy with the way he's progressing. He bowled a phenomenal last over against Australia in Hyderabad. The more and more games he plays, the better for him. He's really a mentally strong cricketer," he said.
"He has been phenomenal for the franchise he plays in, even in international cricket he has played some good spells. He's preparing really well, he's practising really hard."
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
