The IPL 2025 first two round of matches are already over, yet there is no sign of Jasprit Bumrah. The fast bowler has been missing from action from January when he suffered an issue in his back from the Australia Tour. He missed the India vs England series, the Champions Trophy and there is still no clarity on when Jasprit Bumrah will be back in IPL 2025 for Mumbai Indians. Immediately after the IPL 2025 which ends in the last week of May, Indian cricket team will fly out to England a Test series starting June third week.
Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond, who has worked with Jasprit Bumrah at Mumbai Indians and is currently with Rajasthan Royals, says that too much load must not be put on Bumrah, like it was done during the Australia Tour.
While speaking on if Bumrah should “change something about his bowling”, Bond opined: “I don’t think so. He had the [2023] surgery, but he played all that [Australia] Test series, performed unbelievably. At the end of the day, he just bowled too much over a one-month period. And it hasn’t cracked, he hasn’t got a fracture, he is on the borderline of a fracture,” Bond told ESPN Cricinfo.
“But what India would have learned is, if you then look at a five-Test match series in England and they do the same thing, they are probably going to get the same result. So you can’t do that. You need a squad of bowlers where you can sort of pick and choose.
Because if you lose him, you have got T20 World Cups, you’ve got 50-overs World Cups and he’s an important member across all formats, IPL, all that sort of stuff.”
Bond added that in Australia, the sheer number of overs that he bowled over the course of five Tests – 151.2 – caused Bumrah’s injury.
“In Australia it was just the sheer volume of overs that got him in the end – in those five Test matches his performance was ridiculous, and they leaned on him a lot and I think he might’ve bowled 50 overs in a Test match. You are not going to avoid an injury, you are just trying to avoid the really bad ones, and I’m hoping Bumrah can avoid another one of these,” Bond said.
“And I suppose the lesson is, you can’t have him bowl that many overs again in a Test match. Forty-five might be the top, and we can’t risk it because he’s too valuable. And I’m sure they have got all those things considered around the bowling loads and they would have reflected on why he’s had that injury. He’s a professional, Boomsy, he does everything right. All you are trying to do is prevent that… you are not going to avoid an injury, you are just trying to avoid the really bad ones, and I’m hoping he can avoid another one of these.”