Jasprit Bumrah, who has been missing from action for India for over five months, is set to remain on the sidelines for another six months, a BCCI source told PTI on Tuesday, February 28. The pacer has failed to fully recover from his back injury and is unlikely to make a comeback soon, it was confirmed.
It was earlier reported that Bumrah's presence for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 is highly unlikely and he is also doubtful for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final if India manages to qualify for the marquee showdown. The same is set to take place on June 7 at The Oval in England.
The reported source has now confirmed this news, "Bumrah has been ruled out of the IPL as he will take another six months to come back. Even then, he might or might not make a comeback. The 50-over World Cup is the target, but that is also not guaranteed," the BCCI source said.
Bumrah's career in 2022 was marred by a string of injuries. He last featured for India in the T20I series against Australia in September 2023 and missed all the big events from the Asia Cup 2022 and the T20 World Cup 2022 after initially being named in India's T20 World Cup squad.
Earlier, Bumrah had cleared a match simulation test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru but was under discomfort on the second day after building up to higher workloads in Mumbai.
The 29-year-old Bumrah played only five Tests, five ODIs and as many T20Is in 2022, in addition to the IPL games for MI. Prior to the ODI World Cup, India will also play the Asia Cup, and the pacer will aim to first make to that tournament as a precursor to the main event — the ODI World Cup.
His absence will be a major blow for all the teams he represents. First, the Mumbai Indians (MI) will miss his leadership with the IPL starting on March 31, and then the Indian team will find it hard to replace his fiery pace once the ODI World Cup rolls around in October-November, hosted by India.
