The year of 2019 ended for the Men in Blue on the positive, winning the last ODI series of the year against West Indies. But at the end of the calendar year, India played without some of its crucial players, as some were injured or some went under surgery. The focus was on the bowler Jasprit Bumrah‘s injury at the lower back.
Jasprit Bumrah was last spotted during the practice session of the Indian team ahead of the second ODI match at Visakhapatnam. The Head Coach Ravi Shastri and the team’s physio had a close look at Bumrah’s action in the nets.
On Monday, the selectors will pick up the squad for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka and three-match ODI series against Australia, scheduled in January next year. It will be noteworthy whether Bumrah will be part of the team or not.
“The team for both series will be picked on Monday afternoon in Delhi. The selectors will pick teams for both series. In all likelihood, this will be the last selection meeting chaired by MSK Prasad,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.”
“In case of Bumrah, Indian team physio Nitin Patel and trainer Nick Webb checked him in Visakhapatnam (earlier this week). He bowled full tilt over there. Since the Australia series starts on January 14, he could just play a Ranji game and get some overs under his belt. In any case, it will also depend on how Virat (Kohli) looks at it,” the source said.
Jasprit Bumrah out of action since the start of home series:
Bumrah hasn’t played a match since India started playing the home series in the ongoing season. He was detected with a minor stress fracture at the lower back ahead of the Test Series against South Africa. Initially, there were speculations that the yorker king would have to undergo surgery. Well, it was good news that there was no need for the surgery.
He went under the rehabilitation period at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) where he spent up to three-four months. However, recently, Bumrah had withdrawn his name from NCA.