India's pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah sustained a lower back injury in the Sydney Test earlier this year. Bumrah was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and there are reports that he can miss upto two weeks of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. While Mumbai Indians (MI) are sweating over his availability, their former bowling coach Shane Bond has urged India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma to not make the mistake of playing Bumrah for two Tests in a row on England tour starting June later this year.
"He's too valuable for the next World Cup and stuff. So you'd be looking at five Tests in England, I wouldn't want to be playing him in any more than two in a row. Coming out of the back end of the IPL into a Test match is going to be a huge risk. And so how do they manage that is going to be key," Bond told ESPNCricinfo.
"Looking at five Tests in England, I wouldn't want to be playing him in any more than two in a row. Coming out of the back end of the IPL into a Test match is going to be a huge risk.
"They may say, look, it's four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he's fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that's hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I'm not sure you can have surgery on that spot again."
Bond understands Bumrah's though process but wants best for him
Bond's career was cut-short by a back injury as well. Former New Zealand fast bowler suffered an injury at the age of 29, the same as Bumrah. However, he kept getting injured and eventually retired from all the formats in a space of six months. He wants Bumrah to have a conversation with the management going forward in order to prolong his career.
"So it's going to take some good management and just some open conversations with the player and say, look, we are doing this with your best interest in your career. Any player who's gone through that, and having myself [gone through it], you are desperate to play, but you also understand there are some risks at certain times and you have to make some compromises."
Bumrah is expected to be fit in the first week of April. Meanwhile, MI will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at MA Chidambaram Stadium on March 23 in their campaign opener.