India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has debunked reports of him being on bed rest in the aftermath of the back injury he had sustained in Australia.
According to a report in The Times of India, Bumrah had been advised to rest at home while suffering with swelling in his back, before the selectors would take a call regarding his participation in the upcoming Champions Trophy. He had returned home from Australia last week after being sidelined during the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He didn't bowl at all during Australia's second innings at the SCG, having suffered back spasms on day two.
Bumrah has a history of back injuries, and had missed almost a year of cricket between 2022 and 2023, undergoing surgery on his back in March 2023. The selectors had announced that he would be rested for India's T20I series against England later this month, and are yet to name their squad for the Champions Trophy.
The deadline for announcing squads for the competition is this Sunday, January 19, just under a month before India play their first game of the group stage, against Bangladesh. As reported earlier this week, he may not recover before the knockout stage, which will be played between March 4 and March 9.
India will be keen to have the Bumrah for the Champions Trophy. In the last ICC ODI tournament, the 2023 World Cup, he took 20 wickets at an average of 18.65, and was a crucial force for India alongside Mohammed Shami, who is set to play for India for the first time after recovering from an injury he had sustained during that World Cup.
Sources unreliable: Bumrah
“Jasprit Bumrah will not be rushed back to cricket, he’s currently having bed rest at his home,” ran a post on X, quoting The Times of India.
“I know fake news is easy to spread but this made me laugh 😂. Sources unreliable 😂,” tweeted (posted on X) Bumrah, quoting the original post. The original poster subsequently deleted their post.
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