New Delhi: Jasprit Bumrah is likely to miss the initial rounds of the IPL 2025 matches for Mumbai Indians as the star pacer is still recovering from the lower back injury that rendered him out of action since January.
Bumrah suffered the injury during the second day of the fifth Test against Australia at Sydney and did not bowl in Australia’s second innings where they chased 162 successfully to emerge a six-wicket winner.
Bumrah, who had taken 32 wickets from five matches in that series, has been sidelined ever since, and has also missed India’s victorious Champions Trophy campaign.
He was named in India’s provisional squad for the ICC showpiece, but could not attain the optimum fitness level in time, as mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was drafted into the side.
“His recuperation is going well. But at this stage it is better to give him some more time to return to peak fitness, considering India’ Test series against England in June,” a source close to the development told PTI.
The IPL 2025 is scheduled to end on May 25.
It has also been learned that the physios at the BCCI Centre of Excellence has not set a specific time frame for him to return to action, even though Bumrah has been steadily increasing his workload at nets and match simulations.
Earlier, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that Bumrah had been advised five weeks of complete “off-loading” until the last week of January to reduce the stress on his injured back.
It was a mandatory step because Bumrah had suffered a similar injury in 2023, and had undergone surgery in March that year, which cost him considerable match time.
The possible unavailability of Bumrah is a huge blow to Mumbai Indians in their quest to regain the IPL title after finishing 10th on the points table in IPL 2024.
In Burmah’s absence the Hardik Pandya-led side will have to rely massively on pacers Trent Boult, Corbin Bosch and Deepak Chahar to deliver till he returns.
Hardik will also have to shoulder more bowling responsibilities in the absence of the 30-year-old.
The Mumbai outfit will begin their campaign against Chennai Super Kings on March 23 at Chennai before travelling to Ahmedabad to face Gujarat Titans on March 29.
Then the five-time champions will return home for the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on March 31.
They will take on Lucknow Super Giants on April 4 and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 7, and as things stand at present, Bumrah is unlikely to feature in any of them though he might link up with the squad in the first week of April.
