Jasprit Bumrah is on the mend, but what’s the BCCI’s roadmap for him?

Handpicked Tests, some ODIs but all T20s, IPL or international, was more or less the trend from 2018. But the circumstances are more extenuating now

Hope swells with every social media intrusion into Jasprit Bumrah’s life, the last being a bird’s eye view of the man sprinting to the crease at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. It didn’t offer a peek into his match fitness, nor could it be considered a milestone in his long rehab from an almost debilitating lower back injury. Tuesday’s affirmation from Bumrah — through a collage of photos of his training with Skylar Grey’s “Coming Home” playing in the background — may well be a reason for cheer but probably not go overboard. For no one can tell for sure whether Bumrah will play Ireland in August till he actually does. Or whether he will be match-fit for the ODI World Cup at home. Of wider consequence is the question whether Bumrah will ever play all formats again.

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah (Getty/File Photo)

The pertinence of that last question at a time India are desperate to win an ICC event is bound to be challenged. But let’s not forget that most of the greatest hits of Bumrah — 6/33 in Melbourne (2018), 5/7 in Antigua (2019), 5/42 in Cape Town (2022), 4/56 again in Melbourne (2020), or that nine-wicket match haul in Nottingham (2021) — were delivered in red-ball cricket. It’s been a year since his last Test, one where he led India with distinction, dismissing Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope in consecutive overs before England ran away with the game. Player of that series with 23 wickets, with “a lot of great learnings, an honour to lead the team and a great experience for me”, Bumrah looked every bit an astute captain in the making.

What happened post that tour is anybody’s guess. Bumrah was injured, sent to rehab, cleared and then again injured. In the two T20Is he played against Australia in September, he was expensive, largely erratic and sometimes out of rhythm. When he was laid low again, there was a fleeting — misplaced, however — belief within the team management that somehow he would be fit for the T20 World Cup. It proved wishful thinking.

There have been two press releases mentioning Bumrah in the eight months since Mohammed Shami was named his replacement for the T20 World Cup in Australia. The first on January 9 was a vague update that said Bumrah had been ruled out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka as he needed “some more time to build bowling resilience”. The next update on April 15 offered a tentative timeline of his recovery. “Jasprit Bumrah underwent surgery in New Zealand on his lower back, which was successful and he remains pain free. The fast bowler was advised by the specialist to start his rehab six weeks after the surgery, and accordingly, Bumrah has commenced his rehab management at NCA from Friday,” it read.

What we now see of Bumrah, three months since that last BCCI news — it means he probably has been training for six weeks now — maybe just another regular update. Twice bitten, several times shy, BCCI will no doubt not rush Bumrah. Because all said they need him to hold one end up in the slog overs in the World Cup.

It’s also worth noting that Bumrah turns 30 in December. It’s a contemplative time that is bound to stoke pragmatism, especially for a fast bowler with a suspect back. Bumrah has played 30 Tests. Of Indian fast bowlers to have taken 300 or more wickets, Kapil Dev had played 95 Tests by the time he was 30, Ishant Sharma 86 and Zaheer Khan 56. Even Shami, with his dodgy knees and a prolonged injury-induced absence after the 2015 World Cup, had played 49 Tests by then.

That’s one side of the story. Take note of Bumrah’s numbers though. He has the lowest economy (2.69) and average (21.99) among Indian fast bowlers to play at least 30 Tests. Dev and Sharma had played almost thrice that many by that age but then they debuted in their teens. Bumrah played his first Test only at 24. It gets more interesting. After 30 Tests, Bumrah has 128 wickets. Dev had 124, Khan 84 and Sharma 87. It’s still a side note to the fact that Bumrah has already orchestrated wins in Australia, England and South Africa. The question now is whether he can add to his legacy in Tests.

Having honed his craft under Lasith Malinga whose Test career also ran sporadically across seven years for 30 Tests before calling it quits and bowling in white-ball cricket for another decade, Bumrah won’t have to look too far back for precedence and validation. And India too will any day prefer a fit Bumrah for two formats over a suspect Bumrah for all formats.

It has already been a difficult year without him. India failed at another T20 World Cup and were outplayed at the World Test Championship final. Bumrah is on the mend, visibly raring to return. The care with which his workload was being managed from the beginning (he played his first home Test only in 2021) indicated the management had some idea of the cascading effect his unique action could have on the back. Handpicked Tests, some ODIs but all T20s, IPL or international, hence was more or less the trend from 2018, his year of Test debut.

But the circumstances are more extenuating now, considering Bumrah has probably one last chance at salvaging his career.