- विज्ञापन -
Mumbai Indians (MI) are set to begin their IPL 2025 campaign without their premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is still recovering from a lower back injury sustained in January. Bumrah, who has been undergoing rehabilitation at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, is expected to rejoin the squad by early April, subject to medical clearance. MI have three matches scheduled in March, meaning he could miss a significant portion of the tournament’s early stages, as per ESPNcricinfo.
The pacer suffered a stress-related back injury on the second day of the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Sydney on January 4. As a result, he was ruled out of the Champions Trophy, which India went on to win earlier this month. This marks the first recurrence of his back issues since he underwent surgery in March 2023.
When India’s squad for the Champions Trophy was announced in January, chief selector Ajit Agarkar stated that Bumrah had been advised by the BCCI medical team to offload for at least five weeks following the Sydney Test. Although initially named in India’s provisional squad, he underwent fresh scans in early February and continued to experience discomfort, ultimately missing the tournament.
It remains uncertain how many IPL matches Bumrah will be unavailable for, with no confirmed timeline for his return. MI’s first two matches are away fixtures–against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai on March 23 and Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on March 29. Their first home game is against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 31, followed by fixtures against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on April 4 and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Mumbai on April 7.
