Jasprit Bumrah is a national treasure. This is the sentiment not only perceived by Virat Kohli but by every Indian cricket fan, who understands anything about cricket.
Perhaps the greatest white-ball bowler and surely on course to be one of the best of all-time, Bumrah is the epitome of bowlers who excel in modern-day cricket. However, these types of players come with a ‘handle with care’ tag.
Similarly, BCCI is handling the workload of Bumrah with the utmost care. After a lengthy break and an astounding performance at the T20 World Cup 2024, Bumrah rested from the ODI series against Sri Lanka, where almost every senior player who is not injured played. Then, Bumrah was even among the ‘few’ big names who missed out from the first round of Duleep Trophy fixtures.
‘Injury prone’ Jasprit Bumrah
Thumb injury in 2018, Lower-back stress fracture in 2019, Abdominal strain in 2021, and a lengthy back injury in 2022 (that also ruled him out of T20 WC 2022 and IPL 2023). These are the major injuries that has forced Jasprit Bumrah out of international action in his career.
Bumrah has time and again missed important matches for India, unfortunately due to injuries. However, whenever he has featured in any of the games, the 30-year-old has stood out from the rest. Moreover, his unorthodox action, coupled with a risk of injuries that are quite frequent to pacers – Bumrah should be handpicked for crucial series only.
Bumrah to comeback in IND vs NZ Tests
India’s next assignment is the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. There are lot of talks about Bumrah might or might not feature in those two fixtures against the Bangla Tigers. But what is the dilemma about? Well, BCCI will be considerate on Bumrah on whether to unleash him in the succeeding India vs New Zealand Test series or warm him up in the two games against Bangladesh.
However, InsideSport has exclusively learnt that the great man will not play against Bangladesh but will instead directly feature against the BlackCaps. “As for Bumrah, he will be back in New Zealand series. We have important Tests coming up and he is crucial for us to qualify for World Test Championship Final,” a BCCI official told InsideSport.
Does Bumrah need game time before hectic Test series?
Team India is in for a hectic red-ball winter. After the two Tests against Bangladesh, New Zealand will come to the shores for three Tests in October. Then will come the ultimate test in the form of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), this time Down Under. It will be a gruelling Test series of five matches.
After the ICC Champions Trophy and a full IPL season, the World Test Championship (WTC) final is scheduled as well. Well, hang on. On Thursday (August 22), ECB came up with their summer schedule as well, meaning that India will tour England for 5 Tests as well right after the WTC Final. With all this in mind, does Bumrah really need to play two Tests against Bangladesh? One might argue that the Gujarat-born pacer would need some game time before the New Zealand series. However, the Indian management could also do one thing and play Bumrah in any of the three T20Is against Bangladesh, where Bumrah only has to bowl 4 overs at maximum.
Mind you, Bumrah has not played any professional cricket since the T20 World Cup 2024, and even he might need some bowling in order to get into his groove before a hectic Team India schedule that is coming up.
