'Team is used to Bumrah's absence'

‘Bumrah has been absent for more than eight months now, the guys and the team are very much used to it'

Mitchell Starc ran through the India batting lineup in Visakhapatnam with a five-for as India were reduced to one of their lowest ODI totals at home.

India were skittled out for a mere 117 in the second ODI of the series, recording their second-lowest team score while batting first at home.

As Starc put on bowling exhibition, India must have missed their star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

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Bumrah hasn’t played a game for India since September 2022. A recurring back injury that first took him out of action after the India tour of England last year, ruled him out of the T20 World Cup in Australia and has put a big question over his fitness ahead of the ODI World Cup later this year.

Skipper Rohit Sharma said that the absence of pacer Jasprit Bumrah is something that the team is used to now.

“Bumrah has been absent for more than eight months now, the guys and the team are very much used to it. It is very hard to fill Bumrah's shoes. We all know that, he is a quality bowler but now that is not been available for us. Let's not just keep thinking about that."

"We have to move ahead and guys have taken the responsibility pretty well (Mohammad ) Siraj, (Mohammed) Shami, Shardul (Thakur), we have got Umran and Jaydev (Unadkat) as well,” he said.

Talking about Sunday's match, Rohit said the players did not apply themselves well during the first innings wherein they were shot out for 117 in just 26 overs.

“We did not bat well. It was not the pitch where we could have gotten out for 117. We didn't apply ourselves. When you lose a couple of wickets early, it's important to create a partnership or two so that you can get back into the game."

"When you have only 117 runs on the board, the (opposition) batters have nothing to lose other than to come and try and swing the bat,” Rohit said.