If you are a Mumbai Indians fan, brace yourself for some bad news.
Their ace speedster, Jasprit Bumrah is set to be out of action for another five months, making him unavailable for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the World Test Championship final.
According to reports, Bumrah’s injury (back stress fracture) is more serious than it appears.
It is likely that he will miss most of the action this year.
Bumrah has been out of international action for almost five months, already.
Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India and IPL circles have indicated that Bumrah has not been feeling comfortable and he is staring at a potentially long hiatus.
Not just the IPL, the fast bowler could also end up missing the ICC World Test Championship final in June if India qualify.
The BCCI was looking at getting Bumrah fit for the all-important ODI World Cup in October-November.
Bumrah last featured for India in the T20I series against Australia in September last year.
He was ruled out of the series against South Africa with a back injury and missed big events like the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.
Bumrah is also not part of Team India currently for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy where India hold a 2-0 lead in the four-Test series.
Initially, he was not picked for the first two Tests and later his name also did not feature in the squad announced for the third and fourth matches.
The National Cricket Academy (NCA) where he is undergoing rehabilitation did not give him clearance for international matches.
Burmah’s absence will be a big blow for Mumbai Indians who start their IPL 2023 campaign on 2 April with a game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
IPL 2023 is scheduled to be held from March 31 to May 28, while the WTC final is scheduled to start on June 7 at the Oval, London.
Mumbai Indians had finished at the bottom in IPL 2022 and hopes of seeing Jofra Archer and Bumrah hunt as a par, have been dashed.
Most of the Mumbai Indians pace options are overseas players.
The only Indian pace option are Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan and Akash Madhwal.
So, MI could opt for an overseas pace option like Jhye Richardson or Jason Behrendorff.
Sadly for the Mumbai Indians, even their record signing, Cameron Green, the Australian all-rounder is not an option as he is suffering from injury since December 2022.
