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Jasprit Bumrah, India's Test vice-captain, has not participated in any competitive cricket since the fifth and final Test match against Australia in Sydney during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy because of a lower back stress injury that has postponed his IPL comeback with the Mumbai Indians. Bumrah has already missed three IPL games for the five-time champions this season, and he will probably miss a few more as the bowler enters the last stage of his recovery.
Bumrah is almost ready to return from a lengthy recuperation from an injury that prevented him from bowling in the fourth innings of the SCG Test, according to a report by ESPNCricinfo. According to the report, Bumrah is almost finished with the last fitness tests before being deemed fit at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence. Both Bumrah and the BCCI have been quite cautious and have walked the recuperation path very carefully because they have a lengthy and significant five-match Test series against England scheduled right after the IPL.
Given the range of surfaces the teams have played on, the Mumbai Indians have lost the advantage that Bumrah offers to whatever team he plays for in the current IPL. In the pre-tournament press conference, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene described Bumrah's absence as a challenge. Although the Men in Blue have been able to use Ashwani Kumar and Satyanarayan Raju as backup Indian pace bowlers, they still hope to see him play as soon as possible.
The Mumbai Indians will have to rely on Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, and Mitchell Santner's bowling experience as Bumrah is now expected to miss at least the games against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). They also hope Ashwani and left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur maintain their impressive debuts. The Mumbai Indians, who have won one and lost two of their three games in the current IPL, will be eager to keep up the momentum after easily defeating KKR in their opening home game a few days ago.
