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'While bowling at NCA nets...': Rohit Sharma on Jasprit Bumrah's last-minute removal from India vs Sri Lanka series
The BCCI said on Monday that fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of India's upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India said on the eve of the the team's first ODI against Sri Lanka that ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will not be making his comeback from injury in the series. While the BCCI said that Bumrah "will need some more time to build bowling resilience", India captain Rohit Sharma later revealed that the pacer felt some stiffness while bowling at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
“It is a very unfortunate incident with him. Poor guy has been working hard at the NCA all this time. Just when he got back to full fitness - he had started bowling and everything - it happened in the last two days. He felt a little bit of stiffness in his back. It is nothing major, just a stiffness and when Bumrah says anything, we have to be very cautious about it. That is what we did. I thought it was important for us to make the decision then to just pull him out," said Rohit in a press conference ahead of the first ODI in Guwahati.
"When we named him, he was in the process of getting his workloads up. He was bowling in the nets. Just felt a little bit of stiffness in the back so we pulled him out. We need to be very careful with him. He had a major injury before the World Cup so we just need to be careful."
The BCCI had said in its statement that the selectors have not named a replacement for Bumrah. The 29-year-old has been out of action since September last year with a back injury. It led to him missing out on the 2022 T20 World Cup, in which India were knocked out in the semi-finals after receiving a 10-wicket hammering from England.
That was also the last T20I match that Rohit played. The 35-year-old sat out the preceding T20I series against Sri Lanka that India hosted, with Hardik Pandya leading the team in his stead. The absence of Rohit and Kohli has led to speculation that the senior pair may retire from the shortest format in international cricket but the Indian captain said on Monday that he has no such plans.
"Firstly, it is not possible to play back-to-back matches. You need to give them (all format players) enough break. I definitely fall in that as well. We have three T20Is against New Zealand. We will see what happens after IPL. I have not decided to give up the format," Rohit said.
India will face Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the series on Thursday at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. The series, and with it Sri Lanka's tour of India, ends on Sunday with the final ODI scheduled to be played in Thiruvananthapuram.
