When Jasprit Bumrah made a surprise visit to the Dubai International Stadium on the day of India’s much-anticipated clash against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, talk swirled around his fitness.
As he caught up with his teammates before the start, Virat Kohli checked on his back injury. “Theek hain back (Is the back fine?)” asked Kohli to which Bumrah responded, “theek hain (yes, fine)”.
Bumrah’s fitness concerns had almost turned into a national headache since he walked off for scans on the second day of the Sydney Test. It became much more serious than what was reported, with back spasms forcing Bumrah to miss the Champions Trophy.
It is widely speculated that the fast bowler will be unavailable for at least the first couple of matches in the IPL though he is expected to join the Mumbai Indians camp ahead of their opening match.
In the final stages of his rehab at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, a call on his availability will be taken shortly. If reports of a recurrence of the stress-related injury on his back are true, then Bumrah’s workload has to be monitored carefully by the medical team.
A similar injury needed surgery in March 2023 and forced him out of the IPL. India have a major Test series coming up in England soon after IPL 2025 and the BCCI can’t afford to risk him in the circumstances.
The transition from bowling four overs in a T20 match to delivering at least 30 in a Test match often has a huge impact on a bowler’s
fitness.
Rarely has a player’s presence created such a telling impact on the team’s fortunes as Bumrah has done to the game. The colour of the ball remains irrelevant since Bumrah
has it in him to stifle the opposition with his pin-point accuracy and variations in any format.
Even when Mumbai Indians finished at the bottom among the 10 teams last season with only eight points from 14 matches, Bumrah still had been a standout performer. He finished in the top-three among the bowlers with 20 wickets in 13 matches at an economy of 6.48.
A whopping 439 runs were scored in 40 overs at the Wankhede Stadium against Delhi Capitals during Mumbai Indians’ maiden win in IPL 2024. None of the 11 other bowlers conceded less than eight runs an over but Bumrah remained the exception, finishing with figures of 4-0-22-2. His class remains constant, always.
Mumbai Indians have Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar and Reece Topley this time to support Bumrah. If Bumrah misses out, it could upset their combination since playing both Boult and Topley could mean compromising a slot among the four foreigners in the playing XI.
Boult and Chahar have taken the most Powerplay wickets in IPL since 2018 — 89 and 76, respectively — but there are doubts about whether Chahar is injury-free and if he can replicate his best form which had benefited CSK. To fit in an extra pacer, the Mumbai Indians may have to do away with Ryan Rickelton as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner and accommodate Topley.
But all is not lost for Hardik Pandya’s team even if Bumrah plays only a few matches in IPL 2025. Remember, Mumbai Indians still made the playoffs without ‘Boom Boom’ in 2023 and were only a step away from playing the final when they lost to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.
The success had been achieved on the back of awesome batting by the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green and Ishan Kishan while Piyush Chawla was their most successful bowler with 22 scalps. Batting still provides the side much hope, though Bumrah remains a decisive factor for any team.
