Bharat Arun, the bowling coach of the Indian cricket team, hopes that Jasprit Bumrah is back into the Indian test squad for the series against New Zealand which is going to start on 21st of February.
Bumrah suffered a stress fracture during the test series against West Indies and has been out of the game ever since.
There has been no clarity over his return as the stress fractures don’t have a definite time period to heal. They might take 3 months to heal, they might take 6 months or they might take even more than that.
The Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins, who is the no. 1 test bowler in the world at the moment, had suffered a stress fracture at the beginning of his test career and it had taken him more than a year to come back from that.
Since Bumrah is a huge asset for India, there has been a bit of restlessness among the fans about when he will return.
When Bharat Arun was asked that question, he said that at this stage it doesn’t seem as if Bumrah would have to go under the knife and the team management has kept his fingers crossed for his return for the New Zealand series.
Arun insisted that the fast bowlers have to be managed well and India tried to manage Bumrah’s workload as well as they could, but in spite of good management, the injuries can happen.
“Fast bowling is an unnatural activity. Despite our best efforts there can be no guarantees. We expect Bumrah to be back in time for the New Zealand Test series, that is our next big challenge. As of now, he doesn’t need surgery.” Arun was quoted saying by The Hindu.
The test series against New Zealand is very important for India with regard to their position in the World Test Championship. They are presently at the top of the WTC standings and they wouldn’t want to lose that in New Zealand.
