Jasprit Bumrah out of Sri Lanka series, doubtful for Tests against Australia

New Delhi, January 9

Jasprit Bumrah’s return to action has been delayed further as he has failed to recover fully from his lower-back stress fracture, ruling out the senior India pacer from the ODI series against Sri Lanka.

It is understood that Bumrah was ruled out after he complained of a “stiff back” during his last two net sessions at the NCA before he was supposed to fly to Guwahati for the first ODI.

Bumrah was named in the squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, starting tomorrow, but the BCCI’s support staff and medical team have collectively decided that his “return to play” should be pushed back.

“…Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Bumrah, who was set to join the team in Guwahati ahead of the ODI series, will need some more time to build bowling resilience. This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure,” the BCCI said in a statement.

The selection committee has not named a replacement, added the BCCI.

Skipper Rohit Sharma termed it as “unfortunate”. “It’s a very unfortunate incident with him. The poor guy (Bumrah) has been working really hard at the NCA for all this time. Just when he got back to his full fitness, when he started bowling and everything, in the last two days I think this incident happened where he felt a little bit of stiffness in his back,” Rohit said.

However, the skipper informed that it was “nothing major” and more of a safety measure. “It’s just stiffness, when Bumrah says anything you have to be very cautious about it. That is what we did, I thought it was very important to make that decision then — just pull him out. When we named him (Bumrah) he was in the process of getting his workload done, he was bowling at the nets. We need to be very careful with him. He had a major injury before the World Cup,” he said.

It will be interesting to see if Bumrah recovers to compete against New Zealand in the ODI series, starting January 18, and is fielded without playing even one domestic game. It will not be a surprise if Bumrah does not play the entire four-match Test series against Australia, starting February 9. He is expected to be used sparingly as he would be needed for the marquee ODI World Cup at home later this year.