Men in Blue's captain Rohit Sharma rued the unavailability of his pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka which is slated to start from Tuesday (January 10).
Initially, Bumrah wasn't part of the India's ODI squad but was included in the fold couple of days back. Later, on the eve of the ODI opener the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed that the star pacer has been ruled out of the ODI series against the Islanders.
Meanwhile, in the pre-match press conference India captain Rohit revealed the reason behind Bumrah's absence from the ODI outing. He said that Bumrah didn't feel confident about his back couple of days back.
“Very unfortunate. The poor guy has been working really hard at the NCA. He felt stiffness in his back a couple of day ago and if Jasprit Bumrah is saying he is not feeling well, you have to pull him out. We need to be extra careful with Bumrah,” Rohit said in a pre-match press conference on Monday.
Here's is the video..
Earlier on Monday, BCCI had revealed that Bumrah has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. “Bumrah, who was set to join the team in Guwahati ahead of the ODI series, will need some more time to build bowling resilience. This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure,” BCCI had wrote in its media advisory.
Bumrah has been out of action action since September 2022 and also couldn't feature in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup owing to a back injury. The pacer has undergone rehabilitation and has been declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
It will be interesting to see if Bumrah recovers to compete against New Zealand for the ODI series, starting January 18 and is fielded without playing even one domestic game. Bumrah suffered from a back injury after the England tour last year and the team has suffered badly due to the absence of the star bowler. Jasprit Bumrah has missed the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup due to this injury and in both tournaments, the bowling line-up of the team couldn't hold it well.
India vs Sri Lanka ODI series schedule:
January 10 India vs Sri Lanka, 1st ODI Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati 1:30 PM
January 12 India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI Eden Gardens, Kolkata 1:30 PM
January 15 India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram 1:30 PM
