Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is reportedly set to miss the start of Mumbai Indians' IPL 2025 campaign as he continues to recover from injury.
Report: Jasprit Bumrah to miss early part of IPL 2025
According to a report from ESPNCricinfo on Friday (March 14), Bumrah will only join up with the franchise in early April, provided he receives clearance from the medical team at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence.
Mumbai's first three games are scheduled for March 23, March 29 and March 31 against Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. They are then set to play Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first week of April.
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It remains to be seen exactly how many of these matches Bumrah is unavailable for, but if the reports are accurate he will miss at least the first three fixtures.
The star pacer had missed the entirety of IPL 2023 after picking up a stress fracture of the back in 2022, and undergoing surgery in March 2023. He made his comeback to international cricket against Ireland later that year, before playing pivotal roles in the 2023 World Cup, 2024 home Test series against England, 2024 T20 World Cup and 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
In IPL 2024, Bumrah took 20 wickets, the third-most in the season behind Harshal Patel (24) and Varun Chakravarthy (21) even as Mumbai finished rock-bottom of the league.
Bumrah's workload was a major concern as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy wore on, and those worries intensified during the fourth Test when he bowled an extended spell in the fourth Test in Melbourne. He eventually left the field midway with a back issue during the fifth Test in January, for which he was also India's captain.
He was initially named in India's provisional squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy, but was left out of the final squad due to the injury as the Men in Blue went on to win the tournament.
Former Australian quick Glenn McGrath has also spoken about the need to manage Bumrah carefully: "He is a bowler you’ve got to manage. You’ve got to look after him. Because, the amount of stress he puts on his body every ball compared to the other bowlers is different. He’s found ways to manage it. But not all the time, because he has developed injuries every now and then."
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