Team India captain Rohit Sharma expressed his frustation over injuries to frontline pacers, especially when the team is set to take part in the Asia Cup and the World Cup later this year. With premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah out of action due to long term injury, India endured a tough outing during the World Test Championship (WTC) final, losing to Australia last month. India take on West Indies in a two-match Test series, starting later on Wednesday in Dominica.
Mohammed Siraj will spearhead the pace attack in the absence of the injured Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who has been rested due to workload management.
For the tour, India have included uncapped pacer Mukesh Kumar in the squad, while Navdeep Saini has been recalled to the side. Jaydev Unadkat, who ended a 12-year gap for a Test recall last year against Bangladesh, is also part of the squad.
On the eve of the start of the first Test, Rohit said that the team has no option but to manage the available resources by rotating them.
"Fast bowlers have claimed a lot of wickets here (in West Indies). People get injured, and we have to rotate players unfortunately. Hamare pass fast bowlers ki line nahi lagi hui hain (we don't have a line of fast bowlers)," Rohit said during a press conference.
However, Rohit feels domestic stars Unadkat and Mukesh can do the job for the team in the absence of injured pros.
"There are lots of Indian fast bowlers who are injured, so we have to manage the bowlers that we have. Our experienced bowlers could not come on this tour. Jaydev is not new. He has been playing from 10-12 years. Mukesh Kumar has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket," he added.