Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is continuing his rehabilitation from the stress reaction to his back, which ruled him out of the ongoing Australia Test and ODI series. He has been missing in action since last year in July, briefly returning for two T20Is against Australia in September.
It was here when he complained of stiffness in his back and was recommended to do more rehab and as a result, missed the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Since then, he has continuously been looked after at the NCA in Bengaluru.
Now Cricbuzz has reported that though Bumrah has started bowling longer spells in NCA and played some practice games as well, he is yet to be cleared to play international cricket by the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Over the last 10 days, Bumrah is believed to have played a couple of practice games at the Bengaluru facility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) but the word is that the NCA managers have not issued an all-clear for him to be considered for the national call-up.
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This means that Jasprit Bumrah will make his return to the field of cricket in the IPL 2023 where he will play for Mumbai Indians.
The team management actually wanted him to scale up the intensity of his workload gradually and it remains in their fitness of plans that Bumrah will play the T20 games before being part of any full-blown competitive action.
The report also stated that the team management will most likely monitor his workload in the IPL. The plan has still not been spelled out but the team's brain trust, in the BCCI, will try to oversee his progress, if not exactly remote control his work.
There are instances in the IPL where the foreign boards would issue conditional NOCs, requesting the franchises not to make a bowler bowl more than 24 deliveries in the nets, not to make him play a certain number of games on the trot and seek his fitness parameters regularly.
Something similar is expected to be done by the BCCI for all bowlers if not for just Bumrah.
The IPL 2023 begins on March 31 and will end on May 28.
(Cricbuzz report)
