The BCCI is in no mood to take any chance with pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness given the fragile state of his back after he underwent surgery in New Zealand. Bumrah has so far missed the T20 World Cup, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 as well.
Bumrah’s situation was made worse as he was rushed back twice- once before last year's World Cup and most recently ahead of the ODIs against Sri Lanka, after he had sustained a back injury in July 2022 during the ODI series against England.
Now as per a report in Indian Express, his recovery is one of the top agendas up BCCI's plate, and for that, the board is not willing to take any risk. The responsibility of tracking the India pacer's recovery has been assigned to National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman. He alone will be in touch with Bumrah regularly and play an active part on his road to recovery.
"Not many in the BCCI are aware of his injury. Only VVS Laxman (NCA director) has been assigned to speak to him and the physios. Even the selection committee has been told that they will be informed about Bumrah's actual injury and his rehab details in due course," a source told Indian Express.
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Indian team has been hit hard due to injuries to three of its big players. Apart from Bumrah, Rishabh Pant is out for an indefinite period of time due to his accident and Shreyas Iyer also has been gripped by a back issue for which the India batter is expected to go under the knife.
No one wants Jasprit Bumrah to get further injured and hence he will not be rushed back the report further suggested that the condition of Bumrah's back as of now is very weak and one wrong call can even end his career.
"His back is in a fragile state right now. Besides, last time Bumrah's return was hastened. Since he hadn't fully recovered, he had discomfort while bowling on his return. This time, we are more conservative as a wrong call might even result in a career-threatening injury," the source added.
Post the IPL and WTC final, India will travel to the West Indies for a limited-overs tour, followed by the Asia Cup. However, there is a huge possibility that Jasprit Bumrah playing straight in the ODI World Cup.
