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Shoaib Akhtar's year-old 'Bumrah's back will break down' video goes viral after India pacer ruled out of T20 World Cup
Social media has been flooded with various reactions ever since the news about Jasprit Bumrah's injury broke out. Among those was an old video Shoaib Akhtar, in which the former Pakistan speedster is talking about how Bumrah's uncanny action can lead to career-threatening back injuries.
Barely a couple of weeks before the T20 World Cup, India received a body blow as their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament with a suspected stress fracture on his back. Bumrah, who has only played 15 matches this year so far - 5 Tests, ODIs and T20Is each - had only returned to the T20I scheme of things in the Australia series. The pacer, who had travelled with the Indian team to Thiruvananthapuram for the first T20I against South Africa, could not take part in it as he had issues with his back during a practice session.
BCCI are yet to give an official update on Bumrah's injury or his replacement but if the reports are to be believed then it is likely to be a toss-up between Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. The latter has just recovered from Covid-19 and is among the four standby players for the T20 World Cup. Siraj, who has not been in the T20I scheme of things, has had a fruitful stint with Warwickshire.
The reason why Deepak Chahar might not be considered despite being on the reserves list is because of his sameness with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. India desperately need another option at the death.
Social media has been flooded with various reactions ever since the news about Jasprit Bumrah's injury broke out. Among those was an old video Shoaib Akhtar, in which the former Pakistan speedster is talking about how Bumrah's uncanny action can lead to career-threatening back injuries.
"His (Bumrah's) bowling is based on frontal action. Players with that action bowl with their backs and shoulder speed. We used to be side-on, and that used to compensate (for the pressure on the back). Front-on action has no compensation and with that action, when the back gives in, you can’t escape it irrespective of how much you try," Akhtar had said a year ago on Sports Tak.
The Rawalpindi Express gave the examples of former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop and former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond to state that India can't play Bumrah in all three formats.
"I saw [Ian] Bishop struggling with his back, Shane Bond too, and both had frontal actions. Bumrah now needs to think in this way, ‘I played a match, took an off, and go to rehab’. He needs to manage. If you play him every match, in one year, he will completely break down. Play him three matches out of five and take him out. Bumrah will have to manage this one thing if he wants to last forever," he added.
The video was reshared and fans hailed Akhtar for accurately predicting Bumrah's injury-prone action.
Interestingly, Akhtar was not the only noted former pacer who had expressed doubts over Bumrah's longevity at the interantional level. West Indies pace bowling great Michael Holding had assessed that Bumrah was always a candidate for back injuries.
