Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif believes the growing number of injuries is a concern for the Indian team after the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Jasprit Bumrah suffered a knee injury during the ODI series against England and missed the third and final game at Lord’s.

Furthermore, Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy are currently recovering from a quadriceps injury. Moreover, Harshit Rana made a comeback after recovering from a knee injury but suffered a fresh injury on the UK tour. India’s ODI captain Shubman Gill also suffered from cramps in the first and third ODI against England when he went past the 50-run mark.

Varun Chakravarthy is out with an injury whereas Prince Yadav was also injured in the second T20I against Zimbabwe and thus the long list of injured players have put India on the backfoot.

“If Bumrah is not there, you are exposed. The young bowlers will work around him. He pushes teams back, and those bowling with him benefit. But we are too far behind without him. Injury concern is a big thing for us that we don’t even talk much about. We are only stuck at Rohit-Virat. The fielding and fitness are bigger issues. Gill has gone out so many times. The youngsters who are the future are breaking down. You need to work on the fitness seriously,” Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube Channel.

“Harshit Rana came back and got injured again. Who is asking questions or asking reasons? The guy you want to send out is playing, but those who are coming in are getting injured. This is a big problem for Gill. He has a great team in the IPL. But the same thing has to be replicated here. Forget Rohit, focus on the bigger problems,” Kaif added.

India will next take on Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, starting August 15.