India’s superstar pacer Jasprit Bumrah, while giving his opinion on England’s aggressive brand of cricket, which is famously termed as ‘Bazball’, said that he finds it interesting but doesn’t understand it much. Team India is embarking on a new era in Test cricket, with Shubman Gill stepping into a leadership role with able hands of experience like KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah to guide him .
This transition comes at a challenging time, with just few days to the start of India’s tour of England. With a relatively inexperienced batting lineup, notably without the stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, massive responsibilities will fall upon the bowling department, which is set to be led by the formidable Jasprit Bumrah.
Top-ranked Test bowler Jasprit Bumrah believes that playing red-ball cricket in England always presents a different challenge, adding that he is keen to bowl with the Dukes ball and counter the task of picking wickets when the ball gets softer. Jasprit Bumrah, the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year in 2024, will take the field for India when they begin their important five-match Test series against England at Leeds on June 20.
Jasprit Bumrah’s stellar record in Test and England
In his Test career to date, Jasprit Bumrah has played 45 matches to date in his Test career and he took 205 wickets, with an average of 19.40, conceding nearly 2.77 runs per over with a best individual figure of 6 for 27. In Jasprit Bumrah’s Odi career, has played 89 matches to date in his Odi career and he took 149 wickets, with an average of 23.55, conceding nearly 4.60 runs per over with a best individual figure of 6 for 19.
Jasprit Bumrah has played 70 matches to date in his T20 career and he took 89 wickets, with an average of 17.74, conceding nearly 6.28 runs per over with a best individual figure of 3 for 7. Jasprit Bumrah is currently ranked 1st in the ICC Test bowling rankings with a total of 908 points. Jasprit Bumrah is ranked 40th position in the ICC T20 bowling rankings with a total of 523 points.
So far, Jasprit Bumrah has picked 37 wickets in nine Tests in England at an average of 26.27. With Bumrah set to lead a fast-bowling attack featuring Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh in England, he expressed faith over the rest of the pacers coming good in the Test series.
Jasprit Bumrah – A fast bowling superstar of India and his tryst with injuries
The 31-year-old Jasprit Bumrah is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian bowlers of all time, with comparisons often being drawn between him and the greatest players in world cricket. What makes Bumrah’s bowling special is that he isn’t limited to one format; he has proven his ability in all formats of the game, including T20Is, ODIs and Test cricket.
Nine years since he made his debut for India, Jasprit Bumrah has done some bloody special things for India. So much so that after only 45 Tests, he is being spoken in the same breath as some of India’s legendary fast bowlers, such as Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, and Zaheer Khan.
Indian star seamer Jasprit Bumrah will go down in history as one of the greatest fast bowlers. Arguably, he is touted as the greatest modern-day bowler. However, one major setback with Bumrah is that he is susceptible to injuries. Jasprit Bumrah, who made his India debut in 2016, has been Men in Blue’s match-winner from the first game but has often missed most of the action because of injuries. Recently, Jasprit Bumrah injured his back and was ruled out of the Champions Trophy 2025.
Similarly, the MI star has missed the T20 World Cup 2022 and Asia Cup as well because of injuries. Thus, this article will shed light on Jasprit Bumrah’s injury history. Jasprit Bumrah had a smooth first two years with the Indian team, but his tryst with injuries began in 2018 when India toured Ireland.
When India toured Ireland for the T20I series, Bumrah fractured his left thumb when he tried to take a catch, but the ball hit him on his thumb. He was ruled out of the T20I series and also the first two Tests against England.
Injury Duration: 21 Days
Jasprit Bumrah’s tryst with back issues started in 2019 when India toured West Indies. He completed the tour and shone in that Test series, but upon returning to India, Jasprit Bumrah faced discomfort with his back, and the scans revealed a stress fracture. As a result, Jasprit was out of action for three months and had to skip the crucial South Africa series.
Injury Duration: 90 Days
Similar to the current BGT scenario, Jasprit Bumrah suffered an injury in the January Sydney Test in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As a result, Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the fifth Test, which was the iconic Gabba Test.
Injury Duration: 14 Days
Jasprit Bumrah’s biggest and worst injury of his career came in August 2022 when he again suffered a back injury. Jasprit Bumrah suffered back spasms and he was ruled out of Asia Cup 2022 which was in August itself. Soon after the ICC event, Jasprit Bumrah felt better and returned for a few bilateral games, but was again ruled out of the action because of the same injury. It eventually grew and Bumrah had to undergo a back surgery.
As a result, the Right-arm seamer missed the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia and was also out of IPL 2023 as he was recovering from a back injury. Jasprit Bumrah also failed to recover in time for the 2023 WTC final. It was only during the T20I tour against Ireland in August 2023 that Jasprit Bumrah returned to action.
Injury Duration: 11 months
Following Bumrah’s injury debacle from 2022-23, the BCCI has very carefully utilised their valuable asset. They have managed his workload, but eventually, Bumrah succumbed to the pressure and injured his back during the 5th Test of the BGT recently. He missed the play on day 4 and day 5 and was on a 3 month absence , following a bed-rest advice for ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and subsequently significant part of IPL 2025.
Injury Duration: 03 months
While injuries goes hand by hand with Indian star bowler Jasprit Bumrah who bolsters a terrific record in all the three formats of the game, recently opened up on his future in cricket and how will he manage his retirement plans and injury management going forward. Following on his statement Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir too said that Jasprit Bumrah’s workload on English tour would be managed according to the situations
Gautam Gambhir opens upon Jasprit Bumrah’s workload management
Gautam Gambhir remains uncertain about how to manage Jasprit Bumrah’s workload during the upcoming England tour, acknowledging that the premier pacer won’t feature in all five Tests. While hinting that Jasprit Bumrah is likely to play three matches, Gambhir admitted that the specific Tests he’ll participate in are yet to be decided.
During the squad announcement for the England tour, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed that, based on feedback from the medical team, 31-year-old Jasprit Bumrah will not be available for all five Tests. Head coach Gambhir asserted that they will decide Bumrah’s participation in matches depending on how the series plays out.
“We haven’t taken that call, which three games is he going to play,” Gambhir said during India’s pre-departure press conference in Mumbai.
“We are going to have a discussion with him and depending on the series as well. A lot will depend on the results of the series, where the series is heading. That is something which I am sure he is very well aware of as well and that is important,” he added.
Jasprit Bumrah hurt his back after the playing all five Tests in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and was later missed out on Champions Trophy after failing to recover in time. The selectors and team management don’t want a similar situation to arise in future. Gautam Gambhir isn’t overly concerned about Bumrah missing a couple of the Tests, expressing confidence in the rest of his bowling unit to step up in his absence—just as they successfully did during the Champions Trophy.
“I have said it before during the Champions Trophy [which Bumrah missed and India won] as well, it will give someone the opportunity to put his hand up and we have got enough talent there. I know that he is quality but we have got enough quality apart from him as well in the squad,” Gambhir said.
The five-match Test series against England will start from June 20 to July 4 and will be played in five venues for nearly two months.The first Test will be played in Leeds, then in Birmingham before moving to London’s iconic Lord’s, and the last two Tests will be played in Manchester and The Oval.
The ace pacer was in reckoning for the Test leadership but since he is unlikely to feature in all five Tests, looking at his workload management, the selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar decided to go with Gill instead.
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