India’s pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah sustained a lower back injury in the Sydney Test earlier this year. Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and there are reports that he can miss upto two weeks of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction.
While Mumbai Indians (MI) are sweating over his availability, their former bowling coach Shane Bond has urged India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma to not make the mistake of playing Jasprit Bumrah for two Tests in a row on England tour starting June later this year.
Jasprit Bumrah’s back injury in BGT 2024-25 and current status
In a big blow to India, ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 starting February 19. Jasprit Bumrah who sustained a back injury during the final Test against Australia in Sydney last month, has failed to attain full fitness and is replaced in the squad by Harshit Rana. This will be the second time in the last five years that Jasprit Bumrah has missed a big ICC tournament due to injury, with the previous instance being the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
In a shocking turn of events, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been left out of the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 despite being medically cleared by the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The decision, taken by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and his panel, has sparked widespread debate, with fans and experts questioning whether the move was too cautious or a necessary precaution.
The NCA, which oversees the rehabilitation of injured players, had reportedly given Bumrah a clean bill of health, declaring him “medically fit.” However, match fitness—an entirely different benchmark—was where the concerns lay. According to reports, Jasprit Bumrah had not yet bowled at full intensity in a competitive environment, raising doubts about his ability to endure the rigors of a high-stakes tournament like the Champions Trophy 2025.
A top BCCI source revealed to PTI, “Bumrah’s scan reports were clear, and he had completed his rehabilitation. However, the NCA left the final decision to the selectors, as he had not yet been tested in a match situation.”
The development is a major setback for India going into the Champions Trophy, which they have won twice in 2002 and 2013. Jasprit Bumrah’s performances across formats since returning from his previous lengthy absence from back injury led to him being widely accepted as the best bowler in the world across formats. The 31-year-old was player of the tournament in India’s successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, taking 15 wickets at a ridiculous average of 8.26
Jasprit Bumrah then practically carried the Indian attack throughout the five-match Test series in Australia, which the visitors lost 3-1. While the rest of India’s bowlers left much to be desired, Jasprit Bumrah’s performance had been rated at various points as one of the greatest individual performances by a player in a Test series in Australia. The 31-year-old finished with 32 wickets in nine innings at an incredible average of 13.06.
India’s reliance on Jasprit Bumrah resulted in him bowling lengthy spells during the tour. He was even seen wearily asking captain Rohit Sharma not to hand the old ball to him in Melbourne during the fourth Test. The workload finally seemed to have taken a toll during Day 2 of the fifth Test when Jasprit Bumrah, who was captain for the match with Rohit sitting out, walked off the field in Sydney and was eventually spotted leaving the stadium altogether for scans. He could not bowl in the Indian second innings.
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar had said in January, while announcing the squad for the ongoing ODI series against England and the Champions Trophy, that he was hoping that Bumrah gets fit enough to play the last match of the former.
“With Bumrah, we are waiting to hear about his fitness and when he’s likely to be available,” Agarkar had said in the press conference in Mumbai with Rohit beside him. ”
At the moment I don’t think he is likely to be fit for the first couple of games at least from what we gather. We will probably hear more in the next week or so about his fitness.”
Jasprit Bumrah’s unique action has been a weapon for him. However, it has also regularly put a strain on his back over the course of his career. In September 2019, Bumrah was diagnosed with a “minor stress fracture in his lower back” and was sidelined for about three months. In 2022, he was forced to sit out the Asia Cup in August and September before missing the T20 World Cup that year.
On this occasion, he was forced to undergo surgery and a lengthy recovery period followed in which he missed 10 months worth of cricket action before returning as captain in India’s three-match T20I series in Ireland in July 2023. India however despite Bumrah’s absence went on to win the coveted ICC Champions Trophy 2025 .
Now with IPL in sight the Mumbai Indians speedster would be eager to bowl in competitive cricket. However former MI bowling coach Shane Bond has raised concerns about the same foreseeing the upcoming England Tour
Shane Bond gives a detailed explanation of Jasprit Bumrah injury
Former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, who worked closely with Jasprit Bumrah during his association with the Mumbai-based franchise as bowling coach in the cash-rich league Indian Premier League, wants the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to smartly manage Bumrah’s workload. According to Bond, whose career was also hampered by multiple back injuries, another back injury for Bumrah in the same spot where he had surgery in 2023 “could be a career-ender.”
Bumrah suffered an injury setback during the second day’s play of the fifth India-Australia Test in Sydney earlier this year, and since then he has been out of action. He was included in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad but later was replaced by Harshit Rana due to a lower back injury. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, and there’s no official clarity about when he will make his return to competitive cricket.
“When he went off for scans, it was at Sydney; there was some messaging coming up around that he had sprains and stuff like that,” Bond was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“I worried that it wasn’t going to be a sprain; it might be a bony injury around that area (the back). I thought he may struggle to make the Champions Trophy if it was.”
“I think Booms (Bumrah) will be fine, but it’s just that (workload) management (matters). Looking at the tours and the schedule going forward, where are the opportunities to give him a break, but really, where are the danger periods? And often it is that the (transition from) IPL to the Test Championship will be a risk,” he added.
According to Bond, he would not want Bumrah to play more than two Test matches in a row because overusing him can lead to another injury, and it could end his career as well.
“He’s too valuable for the next World Cup and stuff. So, you’d be looking at five Tests in England; I wouldn’t want to be playing him in any more than two in a row. Coming out of the back end of the IPL into a Test match is going to be a huge risk. And so how they manage that is going to be key.”
“They may say, Look, it’s four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he’s fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that’s hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I’m not sure you can have surgery on that spot again,” Bond added.
India’s upcoming tour of England is a demanding one, spanning five Tests between June 28 and August 3. Given Bumrah’s workload during the recent five-Test series against Australia – where he bowled 151.2 overs, including a marathon 52-over spell in Melbourne – Bond believes India must be extra cautious.