Jasprit Bumrah was removed from India’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka out of prudence, but it might not be enough to force the pacer to compete in the whole Border-Gavaskar Trophy encounter against Australia. According to sources, Bumrah is unlikely to play in the whole limited-overs series against New Zealand and at least the first few Test matches against Australia. Bumrah was released from the Sri Lanka ODIs on the eve of the series opener in Guwahati after the right-arm seamer reported soreness in his back. This happened exactly one month prior to the first of the four Test matches against Australia beginning on February 9 in Nagpur.
Bumrah’s inclusion in the ODI team for the Sri Lanka series was already a last-minute decision. After receiving the all-clear from the National Cricket Academy (NCA), where Bumrah has been receiving his rehabilitation for a while, the selectors immediately picked him into the lineup. But just as things seemed to be going Bumrah and India’s way, the bowler experienced some back pain during a match simulation training.
On the first day, the 29-year-old fast bowler passed the match simulation, but as the load rose the next day, he complained of back pain. With the Australia Tests, Asia Cup, and ODI World Cup in mind, the team management made the quick decision to remove him from the ODI squad. The choice to expedite Bumrah’s return last year proved disastrous, keeping him out of the T20 World Cup, so the physios and support staff are extra cautious this time around. After a protracted injury break, Bumrah played just a few T20Is against Australia in September before injuring his back once more.
However, if everything goes as planned, Bumrah will only be able to play in the next two Test matches against Australia in March at Dharamshala and Ahmedabad. “Bumrah had new bowling tests in Mumbai under the supervision of Nitin Patel, head of the NCA’s sports science wing and the ultimate decision-maker on a player’s fitness clearance, after passing those tests at the NCA last week. Bumrah would require longer rehabilitation time as a result of the tests and the scan results “stated the report.
Bumrah would need three more weeks of recovery before he can resume bowling at full strength, according to the report, which virtually excludes him from the first half of the Australia Test series. India captain Rohit Sharma stated that because to the quality Bumrah brings to the table, they need to be extra cautious with him.
“It’s an unfortunate incident with him [Bumrah]. The poor guy had been working very hard at the NCA all this time. Just when he got back to full fitness, he started bowling and everything, the last two days I think this incident happened where he felt a little bit of stiffness in his back. It’s nothing major, it’s just stiffness. [But] when Bumrah says anything we have to be very cautious about it. I thought it was important for us to make that decision then, to just pull him out. When we named him [in the squad], he was in the process of getting his workload done. We need to be very careful with him. He had a major injury before the [T20] World Cup. So we just need to be careful,” he said ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka.