CHENNAI: Jasprit Bumrah's wait to play competitive cricket may continue further as the 29-year-old Gujarat pacer is expected to miss the entire IPL 2023 after failing to recover fully from a back injury, which ruled him out of the T20 World Cup last year.
Sources in the know of developments told The New Indian Express that Bumrah, who plies his trade for Mumbai Indians in the cash-rich league, has been advised surgery.
"Yes, he has been advised to undergo surgery as the recurring back injury has been troubling him for quite some time. The National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru along with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has been looking into the issue. In all likelihood, he will go for surgery. They are looking into the options available both in the country and overseas," said the sources.
He may also miss the World Test Championship (WTC) final, if India qualify, which starts on June 7 at The Oval, London.
Bumrah suffered the injury last August, which ruled him out of the Asia Cup. Later, he was named in the India squad for the T20 World Cup apart from the squads for the Australia and South Africa T20I series at home ahead of the marquee event. He even played two T20Is against Australia on September 23 and 25 after missing the first on September 20. He bowled only two overs in the second T20I picking a wicket for 23 runs. He bowled his full quota of four overs in the next giving away 50 runs without any success.
However, he missed the first T20I against South Africa three days later. It was later learned that scans had revealed a stress-related injury after which he was rushed to the NCA. Scans taken there suggested the injury to be serious and he was ruled out of the World Cup.
Bumrah then started rehabilitation again in November and became a late addition to India's squad for the three-match ODI series against visiting Sri Lanka in January. However, the BCCI pulled him out of the series saying, "Bumrah, who was set to join the team in Guwahati ahead of the ODI series, will need some more time to build bowling resilience. This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure."
He once again took scans after experiencing discomfort while doing workload fitness drills in January.
Scans showed a fresh niggle due to which he was ruled out of the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy between hosts India and Australia.
Meanwhile, his IPL franchise neither confirmed nor denied the information regarding his unavailability for the upcoming season.