Jasprit Bumrah: Did India flog their pace ace too far for the Border–Gavaskar Trophy?

The overriding concern for the Indian cricket fan at the end of the Australia tour — right after the form of the frontline batters — has been the degree of Jasprit Bumrah’s reported back injury.

There are now nagging doubts about when the pace warhead and stand-in captain, whose 32 wickets in a losing cause helped him earn the Player of the Series, may be back in action.

It’s been three days since India lost the final Test in Sydney but the BCCI’s medical team is yet to put out an update on the degree of Bumrah’s injury — his ‘back spasm’, as fellow pacer Prasiddh Krishna called it in the media conference after the second day’s play.

Speculation has already begun on whether he will miss the three-match ODI leg against England or even the whole of the ICC Champions Trophy. Much depends on what the medical team at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru has to say.

Insiders feel that if Bumrah’s injury is in the grade 1 category, it will take a minimum of 2–3 weeks of rehabilitation before his return to play (RTP). In case of a grade 2 injury, recovery can take up to 6 weeks, while for grade 3, the most severe, it requires a minimum of 3 months of rest and rehabilitation.

“One hopes it’s nothing serious but the worrying part in Bumrah’s case is that he has already undergone a surgery for a stress fracture before, which had ruled him out for more than a year. It’s the overuse of the same muscles which can cause recurrence and hence has to be managed carefully,” said Chinmoy Roy, a noted Kolkata-based cricket fitness trainer who has worked with the NCA.

But he’s been unstoppable...?

Ever since the smiling assassin made his comeback in the 50-overs World Cup in India in 2023, Jasprit Bumrah 2.0 has been in unstoppable form across all formats.

He was the joint fourth-highest wicket-taker in the ODI showpiece with 20 wickets, then Player of the Tournament with 15 wickets in India’s triumph in the last World T20 and now has this 32-wicket haul in the marquee Test series.

The selectors have been as cautious as possible about the fast bowler’s ‘workload management’ and a possible breakdown now would almost be our worst fears coming true.

Bumrah’s unique action, where he builds up the momentum with a run-up of barely 4-5 paces, followed by a front-on movement has — according to many an exponent of his craft — always posed a danger to the longevity of his career.

Was the excessive workload for Bumrah in the last series — certainly aggravated by the lack of wicket-taking options in the absence of Mohammed Shami — responsible for a possible flare-up of the old injury?

In five Tests, he has bowed 151.2 overs (908 overs) over 9 innings, despite not being able to bowl during Australia’s chase in Sydney — underlining the fact that the Indian bowling attack had become a one-trick pony even in such helpful conditions for seamers.

“A little frustrating (on his injury), but sometimes you have to respect your body... you can’t fight your body,” Bumrah said after the Sydney Test. “Sometimes, you have to accept. Would have loved to bowl on the spiciest wicket of the series. Just had a little discomfort after the first innings.”

That’s very Bumrah. This is someone who voluntarily put his hand up for the responsibility of captaincy in the first Test and brought India back into the game on Day 1 in Perth.

However, a report from Fox Sports in Australia suggested that the bowler may have already been feeling the wear-and-tear his body had taken over nearly two months.

In the fourth Test at the MCG, Bumrah single-handedly rattled the Aussie line-up on the fourth day, dismissing Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey in the space of a couple of overs.

Hours later, in a video that went viral on social media, India captain Rohit Sharma was seen urging Bumrah to return to action for another over in a bid to remove either Nathan Lyon or Scott Boland. The pacer was heard telling Sharma that he has no more strength when urged to bowl another over: “Bas abhi... nahi lag raha hai zor. [Enough now. I don’t have the strength for more].”

The concept of ‘workload management’ is often frowned upon by the fast bowlers of yesteryear, but the fact remains Bumrah is a freak case largely because of his unusual action — and must be nurtured with greater care from now on.

Is pulling him out of one format the way out, before it’s too late?