After days of speculation over his participation in the T20 World Cup, the BCCI on Monday finally confirmed what many supporters of the Indian cricket team had been dreading — Jasprit Bumrah getting ruled out of the mega event.
The news no doubt comes as a body blow for the Indian cricket team; Bumrah after all, is the leader of their attack and someone who has excelled on Australian surfaces on many occasions in the past, including in his debut series in 2016. While questions will be raised over the team’s handling of their star pacer and his workload going into future assignments, skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid will have to hastily redraw their plans for the showpiece T20I event that begins in a little over two weeks’ time Down Under.
What will worry the team even further is the fact that the Indian pace unit isn’t quite firing at the moment. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had a long run of horror games in the Asia Cup as well as in the T20I series against Australia, while Arshdeep Singh has blown hot and cold of late despite exhibiting immense potential and skill, especially in the slog overs.
And fitness-related issues aren’t exactly alien to Bumrah, who has had quite the history with injuries, especially on his back — which reportedly is the reason why he will not be boarding the flight to Australia later this month.
Here, we take a detailed look at Bumrah’s tryst with injuries this year:
Back spasm in England, July 2022
Bumrah had a relatively injury-free run in the first half of the year, having featured in the South Africa tour, the home series against Sri Lanka, the entire IPL campaign for Mumbai Indians as well as in the tour of England over the summer. There was a minor concern over the pacer sitting out of the third ODI against England due to a back spasm, with Mohammed Siraj taking his place in the lineup, but there were no alarm bells as such.
Ruled out of Asia Cup, August 2022
The first major concern over Bumrah’s fitness in the build-up to the T20 World Cup occurred in the build-up to this year’s Asia Cup, which had to be shifted from Sri Lanka to the UAE. After the back spasm last month, this time it was a proper back injury that forced to sit out of India’s defence of their Asian title along with Harshal Patel, who also missed the flight to the UAE due to a rib injury. Once BCCI’s confirmation came in, Bumrah, along with Patel, spent the next four weeks at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru regaining his fitness.
Return from injury, September 2022
Having gone through a long break following the tour of England, during which he was rested from the tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe and was ruled out of the Asia Cup, Bumrah made his comeback during the home T20I series against Australia that marked the beginning of India’s home season.
Can’t thank these men enough for their hardwork, expertise and all the hours they’ve put in to help me get back to the game 🏏 pic.twitter.com/kq3kSTleWE
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) September 17, 2022
After sitting out of the opening encounter, Bumrah was included in the second and third games at Nagpur and Hyderabad respectively. Though he leaked runs, especially in the third game, the team leadership would’ve been pleased to see his progress especially the manner in which he was going full steam. Additionally, the dismissal of Aussie skipper Aaron Finch — hitting the base of the leg-stump with a low full toss — was vintage Bumrah.
Rumours and clarifications, September-October 2022
Unfortunately for the Indian team, Bumrah’s comeback proved short lived. Bumrah sat out of the opening T20I against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram after complaining of back pain, the issue that would return to haunt him after forcing him to miss the Asia Cup. And it wasn’t long before the team management and the BCCI ruled him out of the remainder of the T20Is against the Proteas, naming Siraj as his replacement in the squad.
However, the focus wasn’t on his participation in the South Africa series but on the bigger task that lay ahead, and social media was abuzz with rumours of the speedster getting ruled out of the T20 World Cup.
While Bumrah went back to the NCA for a second time in as many months for further scans, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly denied reports of the bowler’s injury-forced exit from the World Cup on Friday, his claims backed by head coach Dravid a day later.
BCCI’s official confirmation
The BCCI finally confirmed the news on Monday, 3 October — 20 days before India’s opening clash against Pakistan in Melbourne. And though they didn’t spell out the exact reason behind him missing the flight to Australia later this month, it is widely believed that his dodgy back cost him yet another multi-nation tournament, one where he was expected to play a crucial role as the leader of the attack. As of Monday evening, the board are yet to name his replacement, with names such as Siraj and Mohammed Shami doing the rounds at the moment.
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