India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is currently out injured owing to a stress fracture. He has missed out after the West Indies tour as the selectors wanted to give him an extended break to recover from his injury. However, now there is some good news in store as Bumrah could well be on a comeback trail and we could see him back in action for the Australia series. The pace ace is expected to take the field by January.
As per news agency IANS, sources in the know of developments said that the pacer went through an assessment post the Diwali break and the recovery is on track and the bowler should be back in action at the start of the new year.
Recovery is on track
"He underwent assessment and his recovery is on track. Can expect him to be back in Indian colours in January and the Australia series could be the one," the source said.
Team India faces a packed schedule and will be hosting both Sri Lanka and Australia in January before jetting off to New Zealand for a two-Test, three-ODIs and five T20I tour and that is where the management wants Bumrah to be at peak fitness.
"When you are playing in New Zealand, the bowling becomes all the more important. As you have seen in the past as well, it is more about taking 20 wickets there than scoring big hundreds. So, the team management was very clear that they are happy to wait and have him back at his best in time for the New Zealand tour," the source further added.
Workload management has been one of the most important elements which have been talked about a lot in Indian cricket in the recent past. There is a packed schedule, there are plenty of matches across all the three formats and as such, the fast bowlers need to be taken care of at all times, a fact captain Virat Kohli alluded to after the West Indies series.
"That's probably the most important thing for us right now, managing the workload of players. That's why he (Bumrah) didn't play any white-ball cricket after the World Cup because we wanted him to be fresh for the Tests. He is going to be a key factor for us as long as the Test championship continues. We know how good a bowler he is. And the impact he can make in a spell," Kohli had said after the pacer's devastating spells in the Windies Test series.
