After being ruled out of the ongoing Sri Lanka ODI series, ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is racing against time to get fit for the Australia Test series next month, according to a report.
Earlier on Monday, Bumrah, 29, was ruled out of the ongoing three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka with skipper Rohit Sharma saying that the bowler complained of a stiff back during net practice.
Now, as per a report in ESPNcricinfo, Bumrah has been advised at least three more weeks of rest before he can be back in action which means he could miss at least two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, getting underway February 9 in Nagpur.
Significantly, Bumrah had last played a competitive match in September 2022 following which he underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
The report also said that the pacer had underwent match-simulation tests at the NCA before being declared fit. However, more bowling tests under the supervision of NCA’s head of sports science wing Nitin Patel in addition to scan results, it was decided that Bumrah will have to delay his comeback in the field.
“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 had said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, at the pre-series interaction with the media, captain Rohit had termed Bumrah’s absence as ‘unfortunate’ but allayed fears about the star pacer’s fitness saying it’s nothing major.
“It’s an unfortunate incident with him (Bumrah). The poor guy had been working very hard at the NCA all this time. Just when he got back to full fitness, he started bowling and everything, the last two days I think this incident happened where he felt a little bit of stiffness in his back. It’s nothing major, it’s just stiffness. (But]) when Bumrah says anything we have to be very cautious about it. I thought it was important for us to make that decision then, to just pull him out,” Rohit said.