After the off-spinning services of Ravichandran Ashwin, the other player who is dearly being missed by a huge section of fans tonight is fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. One of the best fast bowlers across formats is, in fact, out of cricketing action for the past eight months.
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The last Test match Bumrah had played was in England itself. It was the one-off Test (July 2022) against England in Birmingham, which marked the end of the five-match series. While India had lost the match by 7 wickets, the right-arm pacer was adjudged the ‘Player of the Series’ for scalping 23 wickets across nine innings.
The ominous looking duo of Travis Head (146*) and Steven Smith (95*) have stitched together a 251*-run stand for the fourth wicket in the ongoing World Test Championship final at the Kennington Oval. Their partnership has taken Australia to a position of ascendency, with the scorecard reading 327/3 at Stumps on Day 1.
The Indian pacers gave it their all, but were left clueless as the duo continued to score at a brisk rate. Be it the short bowling ploy or their final dash with the new ball, nothing really seemed to work as fans were left with no other option but to vent their frustration by ruing the absence of ‘Bumrah magic’.
Why Is Jasprit Bumrah Not Playing WTC Final 2023
Bumrah is presently out of cricketing action due to an apparent case of serious back injury. He, in fact, had even undergone a successful lower back surgery a few months ago in New Zealand. Media reports from the month of April this year confirmed that he has begun with his rehab process at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Having not attained match fitness as yet, and keeping in mind the all-important ODI World Cup later this year, the 29-year-old was not named in the WTC 2023 final squad.
To brush it up, Bumrah entered into a unwanted relationship with a back injury in August last year when he was ruled out of Asia Cup 2022. After four weeks of rehab, he was picked for the home T20I series against Australia and South Africa and seemed to be all set to play the T20 World Cup in Australia.
However, only after playing a couple of matches against the Aussies, he yet again experienced a ‘niggle’. Consequently, fresh scans revealed the serious extent of the back injury, which ruled him out of world cup. He has not made a return back to competitive cricketing action since.
Is Jasprit Bumrah Retired From Test Cricket?
NO. Jasprit Bumrah has no plans to hang up his boots from international cricket anytime soon. Fingers crossed, one might see him in action yet again during the upcoming ODI World Cup in India after regaining match fitness.
