It has been a few months since Jasprit Bumrah left the cricket arena. On the second day of the last Test, he suffered a back injury that kept him out of action for several weeks following an outstanding performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25. Since early January, he has not been present.
According to Shane Bond, a former speedster for New Zealand, he had predicted that Bumrah would not be able to make the Indian team for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
The rapid transition between the end of the forthcoming Indian Premier League and the five-match Test series against England may put Jasprit Bumrah at risk, he emphasised.
He was in Sydney when he went for scans, and there was a rumour that he had sprains and other injuries. I was concerned that it might not be a sprain but rather a bone damage in the vicinity of the back. If it was, he could have trouble making the Champions Trophy, I thought.
Booms will be alright, I believe, but [workload] management [is] important. Where are the chances to give him a respite, but where are the risky times, given the tours and the future schedule? Bond added, “And frequently, the [move from] IPL to the Test championship will be risky.”
Leaving that behind is a significant leap: Shane Bond.
The complexities of moving from a preparing perspective from a 50-over game to a Test match, as opposed to from T20Is to the game’s longest format, were further explained by Bond. India will play the red-ball series in England in June and early August.
Anywhere you go from a T20 match to a Test match, it’s difficult. In most cases, it is not too bad if you are playing a one-day series. You will practice and play three games a week, which is quite close to a Test match week anyhow. You will also be in the 40-over range.
But in T20, especially in the IPL, you could have to travel for two days, play three games in a week, get one training session, and, if you’re lucky, bowl 20 overs. That is roughly half of a Test match load, or perhaps less, so you are not bowling back-to-back days, which is a significant rise. Transitioning out of that is a huge leap,” he continued.
For a player like Bumrah, Bond, who has been the bowling coach of the Mumbai Indians for a number of years, stated that the most important things were open communication and workload management.
It will therefore require some effective management and simply have some candid discussions with the athlete to explain that “look, we are doing this with your best interest in mind, which is your career.” Anyone who has experienced that, including myself, knows that there are risks at certain times and that you must make certain concessions, but you are still eager to participate.
“We should be able to carry him across the other formats with some assurance if we can get him through the English summer and he’s healthy. He’s your greatest bowler, so that’s challenging, but if he has another injury in the same location, it might finish his career because I doubt you can have surgery there again,” he thought.
Bumrah is reportedly expected to miss the opening several weeks of the 2025 Indian Premier League. The Mumbai Indians will be trying to return as soon as possible to their pace-bowling leadership role.
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