There was a cloud of uncertainty over Jasprit Bumrah’s participation in the Brisbane Test match, but net sessions provided an answer to that.
An injury had kept Bumrah out of action for nearly a year, between September 2022 and August 2023. Since his return, he has looked as devastating as ever across formats, but India have managed his workload with care. They did not hesitate to rest him for the fourth Test of the five-match home series against England earlier this year, despite the series being “live”.
Read more: The five players India could drop to shake up their XI for the Gabba Test
Stepping in as captain, he claimed eight wickets during the Perth Test of the ongoing series to bowl India to a famous win, and added four more wickets at Adelaide. Over the course of the series, he became the first to reach the 50-wicket mark in Test cricket in 2024.
There were speculations around an injury to Bumrah, largely based on a “minor groin injury” during the second Test. On December 12, two days before the third Test, at Brisbane, he seemed fine at the nets.
He began by bowling leg-breaks before “running in hot” and “bowling at full tilt” at Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the Indian openers from the first two Test matches.
Jasprit Bumrah started off with a couple of leg-breaks alongside R Ashwin but he’s now running in hot & bowling at full tilt, being an absolute handful to KL Rahul & Yashasvi Jaiswal #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/3IRzE0QXbm
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 12, 2024
Of the five major Australian cricketing cities, Brisbane is the only one where Bumrah is yet to play a Test match. When India last toured the country, in 2020-21, he played in the first three Tests but picked up an injury in the last of these, and missed the decider at the Gabba.
Him walking around the boundary, chipping in with words of advice to the greenhorn fast bowlers during the Gabba Test, is part of Indian cricket folklore. Four Australian summers later, he is set to play is first Test at the venue.
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