Alarm bells rang on Thursday (September 29) for the Indian fans as India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the upcoming T20 World Cup next month in Australia. The danger for Bumrah looms large but confirmation on it by the BCCI have yet to be made. Bumrah’s back stress fracture injury continues to give him grief and is expected to inactivate the juggernaut pacer for a period of five to six months.
This forces India to go back to the drawing board as India scramble to put their wayward death bowling right as Bumrah was seen as someone to do away with the snag. This is a double whammy for the Indian cricket team after their star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who was already declared injured at the Asia Cup 2022, was pronounced to miss the T20 World Cup next month too. Now with Bumrah’s exclusion, India’s chances at the T20 World Cup might get severely grazed as the two key players play a pivotal role being the backbone of the team.
This is certainly not the first time the ace pacer’s career has been ground to a halt. The same debilitating injury in 2019 he is struggling to cut ties with, caused him to miss the majority of games. The nagging injury before the just-concluded Asia Cup bobbed up and after playing two T20I matches against Australia, the injury activated again and has now made him miss the ongoing T20I series and upcoming ODI series against the Proteas in its entirety.
Meanwhile, putting in his two pennies on the matter is Pakistan’s former cricketer and now a cricket analyst on his YouTube channel Salman Butt. Butt spoke highly of the Indian pacer and drew a parallel of his bowling with swanky cars such as Ferrari, Bugatti and Lamborghini and at the same time he sent a stern warning to Team India. He stated that Bumrah is not your average run-of-the-mill bowler and also insisted that he should be used sagaciously as his workload is weighing against him. In the context of cars, he added Bumrah mustn’t be taken out on the roads as expensive cars are meant to be out only during the weekends.
"Bumrah's action is such that it puts immense load on his back. He plays all three formats and then there is the IPL as well, which is a long tournament. So, India will have to pick and choose. Bumrah is like a Ferrari, or an Aston Martin or a Lamborghini. These are luxury cars which have speed. These are called 'weekend cars'. They are not your everyday Toyota Corolla, that can be driven everywhere. Anyone can scratch it and it wouldn't make a difference. Weekend cars are meant to be driven only on weekends. A genuine fast bowler like Bumrah needs to be managed carefully. Don't play him in every match," Butt said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
While singing the praises of Bumrah, Butt also added that Bumrah’s ouster from the T20 can also be a blessing in disguise for the Indian up-and-comer bowlers to pounce on the opportunity by weighing their weight in gold. The opportunity can provide the likes of Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Shami to punch their ticket for the Indian team in the long run.
However, Mohammed Siraj has been named Bumrah's replacement for the remainder of the T20I series against South Africa.
"Bumrah is a bowler of superior quality. He is experienced, a match-winner, can bowl in the middle and death overs, puts pressure early. He is a very versatile bowler and his void will be felt for sure. But then again, it depends how India decide to view this situation. It is a great chance for youngsters to step up. When Bumrah will regain fitness, he will return to the Playing XI, but until then who becomes Bumrah remains to be seen," he further added.
