India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been away from competitive action for nearly a year now. Bumrah missed the Asia Cup 2022, the T20 World Cup 2022 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season due to a recurring back injury.
Bumrah underwent a back surgery in March this year and his recovery process has been underway at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru since then.
There are speculations that the ace pacer will make a comeback to the Indian team during the T20I tour of Ireland next month, but a PTI report claims that there is no certainty about it.
According to the report, it is unlikely that Bumrah would feature in all three T20Is even if he travels to Ireland as the matches are scheduled with a day’s gap between each other.
As of now, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee hasn’t reportedly received a green signal from physios and doctors that Bumrah will be fit and available for the short Irish tour.
"There used to be an unwritten rule that if someone's coming back from a long lay-off due to an injury, he needs to play some domestic cricket to prove his fitness. I guess NCA and selection committee has made an exemption for him since he is not a part of West Zone squad for Deodhar Trophy games.
"Also it means that, till now, he is not match ready or else he would have played one Deodhar game," a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
As per the report, the squad for Ireland T20Is will be announced a few days later, giving Bumrah ample time to regain his fitness.
"Before the Ireland selection meeting, the NCA physio will update Agarkar and Co with fitness report of all the players. If physio's report states that Bumrah, apart from bowling four overs, will also be able to field 16 overs and subsequently 40 overs (in ODIs) with full intensity, he will be selected.
"As per latest information, the panel hasn't received a green light from them," the source added.
"The selectors won't just see bowling fitness, they would also take into account if he is in a position to field in humid conditions in Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup. He might need to do a lot of work in the deep. So it is not just about 7-8 overs of bowling in the nets."
On Tuesday (July 18), Bumrah shared a clip of pictures on Instagram, showing him bowling at full throttle in the nets.
In his post, the right-arm quick tagged the Indian cricket team’s official handle and also added a song, “Tell the world, I’m coming home.”
(With PTI Inputs)
