Fast bowler Bumrah played his last international match on September 22 last year, in which he spent 50 runs without taking any wicket. After that T20 series against Australia, Bumrah was out of the team due to injury.
In this span of 11 months, the Indian fast bowling was under maximum pressure. Even the Indian captain Rohit Sharma went so far as to say before the first test match against the West Indies that the Indian pace attack has problems.
Talking to the media, he said, For the last several months we have been playing without Bumrah and we have had to rotate the fast bowlers but we do not have a line of fast bowlers. At this time, the difficulties that the Indian team is facing in balancing the pace attack can be solved by the return of Bumrah.
The 29-year-old Bumrah still has many more years of cricket left in him, so his return in the upcoming T20 series against Ireland has been welcomed by the Indian team. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI told in its press release that Jasprit Bumrah will not only return to the Indian team in the T20 series against Ireland, but he will also lead the team.
Bumrah is returning to the Indian team after 11 months. During this, he underwent back surgery in March and has practiced for a long time at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to bring back his fitness.
The Indian team hopes that Bumrah will come back to the team with full fitness, but the truth is that Bumrah's injury is not new and he has been battling fitness problems for the last four years.
On the 2018 tour of England, he had to stay away from the team for three weeks due to a thumb injury. Bumrah, who has played all formats - T20, ODI and Test matches - felt back pain after the 2019 tour of the West Indies and was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back, after which he had to spend his days in India. Was stopped from playing the first test match.
He was out of the Indian team for almost three months and then returned in the 2020 series against New Zealand.
The misfortune of being dropped from the team for the third time came in front of him in Australia, when he suffered a stomach injury while fielding in the 2021 Sydney Test. He was seated in the last Test match played in Brisbane to prevent injury.
This was the same Test match in which many of India's bowlers were out due to injury and an inexperienced bowling unit defeated the Kangaroos. Well, after three weeks, Bumrah was back in the series against England. Bumrah's biggest trouble came in August 2022 when a backache was first treated as a minor ache and he was given four weeks' rest, keeping him out of the Asia Cup squad.
After playing in two matches of the T20 series against Australia after his return, he was again ruled out of the team due to injury and after a long Test, he was advised surgery, due to which he was out of the team for 11 months.
After all, what is the reason that Bumrah and many Indian bowlers are constantly struggling with the problem of fitness. Is the burden of playing cricket continuously throughout the year taking a toll on him and the board not being able to rotate him properly
Kapil Dev, the captain of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, admitted that playing cricket continuously is putting pressure on the players, but it is also not right to choose IPL instead of the country.
In an interview given to The Week, he said, Nowadays players are playing for 10 months in a year so they can be given some relaxation but players have to take care of themselves. IPL is great but it can also spoil you because even if you get a little injury, you play there but in a little injury you sit out of the Indian team, this should not happen and you should take a break.
On Jasprit Bumrah, he also said that if he is not available for India in the upcoming World Cup, then we will feel that time has been wasted on him.
In the absence of Bumrah, there has been a doubt on who will lead the pace bowling, Mohammed Shami advises it but he himself has been in and out of the team due to injury.
Mohammad Siraj has emerged the best during this period and he has got his bowling done in T20 as well as in Test. Senior pacer Umesh Yadav had the opportunity that in the absence of Bumrah, he could take command of the team's bowling. But he did not take advantage of this opportunity and now he is out of the team as well. During this, bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Mukesh Kumar have been getting a chance in the Indian team.
But can this lineup be expected to take away 20 wickets of the opposing team easily This challenge was mentioned by captain Rohit Sharma on the Windies tour when he said that he did not have a line of pacers.
Especially in Test matches, if we remove the wickets of Ashwin and Jadeja, then Indian bowling looks very weak.
In such a situation, Team India cannot get better news than the return of Jasprit Bumrah. The entire team and crores of fans are pinning their hopes on him. Along with him, the BCCI is also keeping an eye on the famous Krishna, who is returning from injury.
Bumrah has been bowling in NCA for the last one month and former cricketer VVS Laxman kept a close eye on him. Bumrah is gradually increasing his workload and has started bowling 8-10 overs at full speed daily. Recently, his video also came on social media in which he is seen bowling fast.
Although some fans have also commented that he is bowling at low speed against easy opponents in those practice matches, but perhaps this could also be the strategy of the player returning from injury.
There is no doubt that match-fitness has come near Bumrah but he is still away from match practice. The Indian team is hoping that he will be fully fit and will lead the Indian bowling in the upcoming 50-over World Cup.
However, some experts are also saying that when he is making a comeback after so long, he should have been given only the responsibility of bowling and he could have been kept away from the captaincy. BCCI knows that the biggest weakness of the Indian team in this World Cup is going to be fast bowling. Fully fit Bumrah can make up for this shortcoming. His precise line and length, tremendous bouncers and on-target yorkers make Bumrah one of the most dangerous bowlers in current cricket.
Jasprit Bumrah, who has taken a hat-trick in Test cricket, is such a bowler who has the ability to change the course of a match in a single over. Team India is waiting for the same old 'Boom Boom' Bumrah.
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