Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who was supposed to make his comeback to the India team after a lengthy injury lay-off, got ruled out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka earlier this month.
On the eve of the opening ODI, BCCI issued a statement, citing that Bumrah won’t take part in the 50-over series as he needs some more time to build bowling resilience.
Subsequently, the Indian pace spearhead checked into the NCA and started rehabbing again for his stress reaction to the back.
Meanwhile, Bumrah has started bowling again in the nets, raising hopes of him featuring in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is important for India with respect to the WTC final. The Rohit Sharma-led side needs to win at least three Tests in the series to qualify for the final.
While Bumrah hasn’t been picked for the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, there is no clarity about his selection for the last two matches.
Amid the recent development, India skipper Rohit Sharma on Tuesday (January 24) said he is hoping that the ace pacer would return to lead the attack in the last two Tests against Australia.
"About Bumrah, I am not too sure at the moment. The first two Test matches, of course, he is not going to be available. I am expecting...I am hoping, not expecting, that he plays the next (last) two Test matches (against Australia). We don't want to take any risks with him as back injuries are always critical. We have a lot of cricket coming back after that as well," Rohit told reporters after India completed a 3-0 clean sweep over New Zealand in the ODI series.
Jasprit Bumrah picked up a stress fracture on his lower back prior to the Asia Cup last year. On his return in the home T20Is against Australia, Bumrah went down again with the same injury, which ruled him out of the T20 World Cup 2022 as well.
"We are in constant touch with physios and doctors in NCA. We will monitor. The medical team will give him as much time as he wants," the Indian captain added.
The highly-anticipated Test series between India and Australia is slated to get underway on February 9 in Nagpur. Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 while Dharamshala and Ahmedabad will stage the third and fourth Tests from March 1 and March 9, respectively.
(With PTI Inputs)
