After nearly a year’s absence, Bumrah returned to the India side, first to lead in the T20Is on the Ireland tour, then to spearhead the attack in the ODI Asia Cup.

He backed his series returns of 8-1-39-4 with 17-3-71-4 at the Asia Cup, and largely seemed to be back to his best despite being outdone by Kuldeep Yadav against Pakistan and Mohammed Siraj in the final.

Bumrah returned 10-2-43-1 in the first ODI of the ongoing series. While not outstanding figures, especially when pitted against Mohammed Shami’s 5-51, his first spell (4-2-11-0) played a significant role in preventing Australia from sticking to their current strategy of rapid starts.

However, he did not travel with India to Indore for the second ODI. He availed a short break to be with his family. The team management agreed to the trip, and called up Mukesh Kumar as replacement. Bumrah will be back for the third ODI, at Rajkot.

🚨 UPDATE 🚨: Mr Jasprit Bumrah did not travel with the team to Indore for the 2nd ODI against Australia.

He has gone to visit his family and given a short break by the team management. Fast bowler Mukesh Kumar has joined the team as Bumrah's replacement for the 2nd ODI.

Bumrah… pic.twitter.com/4shp3AlXZV

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 24, 2023

Bumrah had earlier missed India’s Asia Cup match against Nepal to be with his wife Sanjana Ganesan for the birth of his son, Angad.

At Indore, India replaced Bumrah with Prasidh Krishna, who had returned to international cricket alongside Bumrah in Ireland. At the Asia Cup, he played in the inconsequential match against Bangladesh.

Australia left out Pat Cummins, their captain, and Mitchell Marsh, who led them in South Africa in Cummins’s absence. They brought in Josh Hazlewood and gave out a maiden ODI cap to Spencer Johnson. They left out Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell, who are recovering from injuries and were practising in the nets.

Steve Smith, stepping in for Cummins, won the toss and opted to bowl. India were 79-1 in 9.5 overs when rain stopped play.