Bumrah’s back injury saga continues, ruled out of IPL 2023

Mumbai Indians fans are in for a devastating blow as their star bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, is set to be out of action for another five months!

Reports indicate that his injury, a back stress fracture, is more severe than originally thought, making him unavailable for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the World Test Championship final.

Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India and IPL circles have hinted that Bumrah is staring at a potentially long hiatus, and it’s likely that he will miss most of the action this year.

The news is a major setback for BCCI, which was counting on getting Bumrah fit for the all-important ODI World Cup in October-November.

Bumrah has been out of international action for almost five months already and was ruled out of the series against South Africa due to his back injury.

His name also did not feature in the squad announced for the third and fourth matches of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which India is currently leading by 2-0 in the four-Test series.

The National Cricket Academy (NCA), where Bumrah is undergoing rehabilitation, has not given him clearance for international matches, casting a dark cloud over his future prospects.

Not just the IPL, the fast bowler could also end up missing the ICC World Test Championship final in June if India qualifies.

Mumbai Indians had finished at the bottom in IPL 2022 and their hopes of seeing Bumrah hunt alongside Jofra Archer have been dashed.

Most of the Mumbai Indians pace options are overseas players, and with only Indian pace options like Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, and Akash Madhwal.

As a result, the team could opt for an overseas pace option like Jhye Richardson or Jason Behrendorff.

Even their record signing, Cameron Green, the Australian all-rounder, is not an option as he has been suffering from injury since December 2022.

The news leaves the team in a state of crisis, as they face a challenging IPL season that starts on April 2, with a game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.