NEW DELHI: Jasprit Bumrah is all set to commence his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru after he underwent scans and thorough assessment under the watch of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) medical team. It is reliably learnt that the reports were internally discussed and now the seamer is likely to start physical activity – some gym work, even light bowling – in the next 24-48 hours.
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The International Cricket Council (ICC) deadline to make changes to Champions Trophy provisional squad is a couple of days away – February 11 midnight Dubai time as the support period starts February 12 – and it will not be a surprise if the Indian cricket board plays the waiting game with Bumrah. They followed a similar route even when Hardik Pandya was injured during the group stages of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
“Even if there is a 1% chance, the BCCI is likely to wait. They did the same with Hardik Pandya as they waited for close to two weeks before getting Prasidh Krishna as a replacement. Even when Shubman Gill was down with dengue, they didn’t have any thoughts of looking for a replacement. Yes those two incidents happened during the campaign but approach with Bumrah could well be no different. This is just the deadline to submit the squad and they could approach the Event Technical Committee at a later stage to seek a replacement if he fails to regain fitness,” says a source close to developments.
India’s ace seamer was asked to off-load for five weeks after the Sydney Test vs Australia where he injured himself and didn’t come out to bowl in the second innings. Since then, there has been no proper update from the BCCI on the nature and extent of his injury, and suspense around his return to competitive cricket has continued.
Bumrah was named in the ODI squad for ongoing series vs England but his name was missing from the squad sheet when Varun Chakaravarthy was added to the set-up. With Harshit Rana already there and Varun added to the ODI squad, the Indian team management is clearly keeping the options ready if Bumrah doesn’t get the all-clear from the NCA in time for the multi-nation tournament which starts on February 19.
India captain Rohit Sharma had said that Varun, who even made his debut in the 2nd ODI, is also very much in contention.
“Clearly during the series it presents us an opportunity to play him at some stage and see what he is capable of. Right now we are not thinking about whether we are going to take him or not but definitely he will be in contention. If things plan out really well for us and he does what is required then definitely there is something that we need to think about,” Rohit had said during the pre-series media interaction.
