BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma provides an important update on Jasprit Bumrah

Chief selector, Chetan Sharma provided an important update on the availability of Jasprit Bumrah after the squads for India's upcoming tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh were announced. Bumrah had to miss out on the T20 World Cup squad after he copped a stress-related injury to his back.

The ace Indian quick already had a blow that forced him out of the Asia Cup. He was then recalled to the Indian side playing Australia and after the first couple of games, he was once again forced to be sidelined and eventually was ruled out of the World Cup due to the injury.

Talking about how workload management could have helped Bumrah to be a part of the World Cup, Chetan Sharma said, “I always say that we have to manage players. And when we do that, the media sometimes writes about why some players are not playing, different players are playing, different captains are coming.”

He further added, “The selection committee has to deal with workload management which we follow very closely. Now, we tried to hurry up Jasprit Bumrah, we tried to get him with the World Cup coming. And see what has happened. We are without Jasprit Bumrah in the World Cup.”

India’s next assignment after World Cup is a bilateral series against New Zealand that will feature 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is followed by a tour to Bangladesh in early December for three ODIs and two Tests.

Sharma highlighted how Bumrah is being taken care of, saying, “The NCA team and the medical team are looking after him very well. And he will definitely be part and parcel of the team very soon, in the sense definitely against Australia (series in 2023). But for Bangladesh we are a little cautious with Jasprit Bumrah as opposed to like we tried to bring him back early (post the Asia Cup). So we don't want to do that this time.”

With a quick word of caution for the media, he said, “That is why I always request the media that when we rest a player there is a reason behind that. No selector fancies that we keep changing the team or the captains - it is only that there is so much cricket, and there is so much workload management to look after that we have to keep looking after the player's body. End of the day they are humans. He will be back soon. The NCA team is working on him properly and I hope he will return soon to play for India."