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Mahela Jayawardene ends suspense over Jasprit Bumrah's availability for MI vs RCB IPL 2025 clash

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has confirmed Jasprit Bumrah's availability for their upcoming IPL 2025 clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Sports Tak

• Sun • 06 Apr 2025

Mumbai Indians' pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in frame

Highlights:

Jasprit Bumrah's availability for MI vs RCB IPL 2025 clash has been confirmed

Mumbai Indians' head coach Mahela Jayawardene confirmed Bumrah's availability

In a big boost for the Mumbai Indians (MI), head coach Mahela Jayawardene has confirmed the Jasprit Bumrah's availability for the their IPL 2025 clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

MI's head coach confirmed on Sunday, April 6, that their star fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, has recovered from his fitness concerns. This means Bumrah will be in the running to be selected for the team's next match against RCB. MI is scheduled to face RCB in their fifth game of the season on Monday, April 7, at their home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

“He’s (Bumrah) available, he’s training today, and should be available [for the RCB game]. He arrived last night, he had his sessions with NCA [National Cricket Academy, now Centre of Excellence] to finalise that, he’s been handed over to our physios. He’s bowling today, so all good,” Jayawardene said in the pre-match press conference.

Jasprit Bumrah rejoined the Mumbai Indians squad on Saturday after receiving the green light from the BCCI's medical team at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. He's slated to participate in training on Sunday, the day before their match at the Wankhede Stadium. Considering that MI has faced three defeats in their initial four games of IPL 2025, Bumrah's return comes as a significant lift to their bowling unit. The attack had previously featured several less experienced Indian bowlers, including Vignesh Puthur, Ashwani Kumar, and Satyanarayana Raju.

It's been a while since Jasprit Bumrah was last seen in action on the field. His last competitive match was the Sydney Test against Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he unfortunately sustained a stress reaction in his back. This injury sidelined him for India's home series against England and also kept him out of the Champions Trophy during his recovery period.

Over the past few weeks, Bumrah has been diligently working on building up his bowling workload at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence. He's understandably been taking a careful approach to his recovery, wanting to be absolutely sure he's fully fit before stepping back into the game. This cautiousness likely also has an eye on India's upcoming five-Test series in England, which is set to begin on June 28th.

Throughout his IPL career, Bumrah has been a loyal player for the Mumbai Indians, joining them back in 2013. Over the years, he's become a key part of their bowling attack, taking an impressive 165 wickets in 133 matches. The only IPL season he's missed since then was in 2023 due to a previous back injury