INDIA TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2024-25
At the time of him leaving the field, Bumrah had sent down 151.2 overs across five Tests with only his Australia counterpart Pat Cummins having bowled more © Getty
India captain and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah had to leave the field early in the post-lunch session on Day 2 of the Sydney Test with a back injury concern. Bumrah was filmed leaving the stadium premises to undergo scans and returned to the dressing room later in the final session. In a press conference at the end of the day’s play, Prasidh Krishna said Bumrah had a back spasm.
Bumrah didn’t take the field in the morning session on the third day of the Test as India tried to level the series. He bowled eight overs on the second day’s play at the SCG for the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne but left the field one over into a new spell at the start of the post-lunch session.
At the time of him leaving the field, he had sent down 151.2 overs across five Tests with only his Australia counterpart Pat Cummins having bowled more (152 overs). Bumrah’s toils have fetched him a chart-leading 32 wickets at 13.06 in the series but his workloads, necessitated by both team combination and lack of potency elsewhere have left him susceptible to be over-bowled, thereby risking injuries.
At the end of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, Rohit Sharma had admitted there was a risk of Bumrah being overbowled. “If somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximise that form how much ever you can,” Rohit had said. “And that is what we’ve been trying to do with Bumrah.
“But there comes a time where you need to step back a little bit and give him that little bit of extra breather as well. So, we’ve been very careful. I’ve been very careful. I talk to him about how he feels and stuff like that. So, yeah. Those things should be managed carefully. And I’m trying to do that on the field.”
Incidentally, India had been dealt a scare as early as the second Test in Adelaide when Bumrah needed the physio’s attention while sending down his 20th over in that match over some discomfort near the groin area. He was able to shrug off that concern and continue to have an incredible series, one that saw him match Harbhajan Singh’s tally of wickets for the most scalps by an Indian in a single Test series against Australia.
© Cricbuzz
