New Delhi: India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the ongoing Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury, has started bowling at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. The speedster posted a video of him bowling in the nets. Taking to Instagram, Bumrah captioned the video “Progress every day”, leaving fans excited about his return to international cricket.
Bumrah last played for India in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. He also led the side in the first and last Test of the tour in the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma. He was the top wicket-taker of the series with 32 scalps at an average of 13.06, with best figures of 6-76 in the third Test in Brisbane. He pulled out midway through the Sydney Test, the final game of the series.
He missed the white-ball home series against England before being ruled out of the Champions Trophy squad.
In Bumrah’s absence, Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana, and all-rounder Hardik Pandya fared well for India in the pace department so far in the Champions Trophy. Bumrah was also present in Dubai during India’s clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday and received his ICC Awards and Team of the Year caps for his stellar performances in 2024.
Bumrah won the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year and was given the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for a superb 2024, where he took 71 wickets in the longer format at an average of 14.92.
He was named the Player of the Tournament in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies by picking 15 scalps at a jaw-dropping average of 8.26 and an economy rate of just 4.17.
Bumrah also won the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year award in a sensational year where he became the fastest Indian pacer to achieve 200 Test wickets. He was also named in the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year and ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year.
Bumrah hopes to be fit for the IPL 2025 with Mumbai Indians, scheduled to take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on March 23.
(IANS)
