Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of T20 World Cup: Timeline of Indian pace spearhead's fitness issues

After days of speculation over his participation in the T20 World Cup, the BCCI on Monday finally confirmed what many supporters of the Indian cricket team had been dreading — Jasprit Bumrah getting ruled out of the mega event.

The news no doubt comes as a body blow for the Indian cricket team; Bumrah after all, is the leader of their attack and someone who has excelled on Australian surfaces on many occasions in the past, including in his debut series in 2016. While questions will be raised over the team’s handling of their star pacer and his workload going into future assignments, skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid will have to hastily redraw their plans for the showpiece T20I event that begins in a little over two weeks’ time Down Under.

What will worry the team even further is the fact that the Indian pace unit isn’t quite firing at the moment. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had a long run of horror games in the Asia Cup as well as in the T20I series against Australia, while Arshdeep Singh has blown hot and cold of late despite exhibiting immense potential and skill, especially in the slog overs.

And fitness-related issues aren’t exactly alien to Bumrah, who has had quite the history with injuries, especially on his back — which reportedly is the reason why he will not be boarding the flight to Australia later this month.

Here, we take a detailed look at Bumrah’s tryst with injuries this year:

Back spasm in England, July 2022

Bumrah had a relatively injury-free run in the first half of the year, having featured in the South Africa tour, the home series against Sri Lanka, the entire IPL campaign for Mumbai Indians as well as in the tour of England over the summer. There was a minor concern over the pacer sitting out of the third ODI against England due to a back spasm, with Mohammed Siraj taking his place in the lineup, but there were no alarm bells as such.

Ruled out of Asia Cup, August 2022

The first major concern over Bumrah’s fitness in the build-up to the T20 World Cup occurred in the build-up to this year’s Asia Cup, which had to be shifted from Sri Lanka to the UAE. After the back spasm last month, this time it was a proper back injury that forced to sit out of India’s defence of their Asian title along with Harshal Patel, who also missed the flight to the UAE due to a rib injury. Once BCCI’s confirmation came in, Bumrah, along with Patel, spent the next four weeks at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru regaining his fitness.

Return from injury, September 2022

Having gone through a long break following the tour of England, during which he was rested from the tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe and was ruled out of the Asia Cup, Bumrah made his comeback during the home T20I series against Australia that marked the beginning of India’s home season.

Can’t thank these men enough for their hardwork, expertise and all the hours they’ve put in to help me get back to the game