Ace India fast pacer Jasprit Bumrah will reportedly miss the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting from January 10 in Guwahati.
Notably, the 29-year-old hasn’t played competitive cricket since September 2022 due to a back injury.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the BCCI doesn’t want to rush Bumrah into action considering how things turned out the last time he played for India.
”Jasprit Bumrah will not play the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting Tuesday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources have said a call has been taken not to rush him into action so soon. He is not among the players who have reached Guwahati, the venue for the first ODI,” the report said.
The report further said that the recommendation to rest the star pacer has come from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru keeping in mind the challenges ahead that include the four-match Test series against Australia next month and largely the ODI World Cup later this year.
Although no official announcement has been made in this regard, the board has reportedly left it to the team management to take a call on whether to play him against the islanders.
Earlier, the board had said that Bumrah has been added to the ODI squad on the recommendation of the all-India selection committee. “The All-India Senior Selection Committee has included pacer Jasprit Bumrah in India’s ODI squad for the upcoming Mastercard 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka,” the BCCI had said in a January 3 media release.
Notably, Bumrah has been out of action since September 2022 and had also missed the ICC Men’s T20 WC due to a back injury.
Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have already joined the squad in Guwahati having not been part of the T20I series which the hosts won 2-1 last week.