Could Jasprit Bumrah’s back injury heal before the T20 World Cup? Well that’s the question for every Indian fan after the news broke that India’s spearhead bowler would be going for fresh scans after complaining about pain in his lower back yesterday when India took on South Africa in the first T20.
If Boom Boom Bumrah does not make it for the World Cup it would be a massive blow for India who have been eyeing their second T20 World Cup after the win in the inaugural T20 cup in Australia.
Bumrah complained about the back injury during India’s trip of England where India played the last Test match and subsequently the ODI and T20 series. That was like when the warning bells should have rung that something is wrong with the ace bowler. Yes back stress fractures do take time to heal but then Bumrah is like a gold mine for the Indian team. He is a blockbuster bowler and making sure of his fitness is the priority of the BCCIs medical team. Yes they took him to Banglore for treatment after the injury in July but was that the right action taken for the ace speedster? Could the medical staff have sensed something is serious and got it operated? We would not know as lower back stress fractures don’t heal easily unless diagnosed well and treated by the right doctor.
Go to bowler
Bumrah is the go to bowler of every Indian captain be it Virat Kohli till he was captain as well as of Rohit Sharma for his IPL franchise. His record speaks for itself - in 60 international T20 games he has gone at less than 6.50 and taken 70 wickets at an astonishing average of 20. In other 210 games he has picked 256 wickets at an economy of 7 and average of 21.54.
India has been already struggling in the death overs with strike bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar going for big runs in the Asia Cup and against Australia and everyone was upbeat that Bumrah would fill that death bowling gap. Imagining India without boom boom Bumrah in the attack is like taking away the gun bowler who bowls the difficult overs and delivers time and again for his captain.
