Team India has received a massive boost to their ICC World Cup 2023 preparations as speedster Jasprit Bumrah is all set to make a comeback in the Ireland series.
The Indian pacer will make his grand return to international cricket by donning the role of captain in the series starting in August as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced a 15-member squad for their tour to the United Kingdom (UK).
This will be Bumrah’s second shot at India captaincy after he led the team against England in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston last year.
Jasprit Bumrah, who was sidelined for the all of the T20 World Cup, Asia Cup, and Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, was thought to be nearing the end of his recuperation when recordings of him bowling furiously in the nets began to circulate on social media and the internet.
Jasprit Bumrah Set to Make Triumphant Return
Bumrah was recovering at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) after having surgery in New Zealand earlier this year for a lower back stress fracture. Following a hint from board secretary Jay Shah that the top bowler will be playing for India in the three T20 Internationals, the BCCI made a major statement on Bumrah’s homecoming.
Teasing his much-awaited comeback in the World Cup year, Bumrah shared a video of him bowling full tilt at the NCA. The star pacer last played an ODI in July 2022 and a T20I in September last year, where he endured a forgetful outing, recording his worst T20I figures (0/50) against Australia. Yet, the BCCI made a last-minute decision to pull him out, signalling that he was still in the process of regaining peak fitness.
Bumrah isn’t the only India pacer to return in a squad featuring a couple of surprise omissions and some pleasant picks. Prasidh Krishna, who like Bumrah, has been on the shelf for almost a year due to a lumbar stress fracture of his own – he last played a T20I against Zimbabwe in August 2022 – makes his much-awaited comeback.
But while it was no surprise that marquee batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are still missing from India’s T20I plans, the team exhibits a slightly revamped look in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill. Notably Gill, on the other hand, has been relentlessly playing cricket since the past year, warranting some time off to recharge.
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