On the eve of India’s series opener against Sri Lanka, the BCCI has decided to pull out Jasprit Bumrah from of the ODI squad, given the string of important series that lies ahead. According to the reports of Cricbuzz, Bumrah, who was added to the squad for the series starting on Tuesday in Guwahati for his first cricketing assignment since October, has been removed with the directives coming from the NCA.
With Jasprit Bumrah showing a tendency to break down after playing non-stop cricket, it is believed that the fiery pacer is better off being given a little more time before returning at full throttle. Bumrah is however, expected to feature in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home in a four-match Test series starting next month, the Indian Premier League, possibly the World Test Championship final, and of course, the World Cup taking place in India later this year.
Initially, it was believed that the BCCI is satisfied with the progress shown by Bumrah since recovering from the back injury he encountered in his back. After rushing back for the T20Is against Australia before the World Cup, Bumrah got injured once again, which is why the BCCI decided to keep India’s premier pacer away and waited for his full recovery.
While recovering, Bumrah kept posting videos of his training and impending return on social media, and while he was not named in India’s initial squad, the board decided to add him in a bumper start to the new year. But now, it seems as if Bumrah’s return to top-flight cricket has been delayed as the pacer may still not be 100 percent ready for a comeback.
With Jasprit Bumrah’s management being monitored carefully and taken care of, the pacer remained injury free for over a year, but hurt his back after India’s limited-overs tour of England, where he had grabbed 6/19 at The Oval. As a result of it, Bumrah was ruled out of India’s Asia Cup campaign. He returned to play two T20Is against Australia in Nagpur and Hyderabad, returning figures of 1/23 and 0/50, when the injury resurfaced and forced him to miss the World Cup in Australia.
India’s updated squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (Wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh
