Bumrah to miss Initial IPL matches; Setback for MI

Bumrah is set to miss the initial IPL 2025 matches for five-time champions Mumbai Indians due to his ongoing recovery from a back injury

New Delhi: Fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss the initial IPL 2025 matches for five-time champions Mumbai Indians due to his ongoing recovery from a back injury which has kept him out of action since the Sydney Test in January.

Bumrah has been recovering from a stress-related injury in his lower back, which he suffered during day two of the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Sydney and didn’t bowl in the second innings as Australia won the series 3-1.

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Bumrah, who took the Player of the Series award in Australia for his 32 scalps, was subsequently ruled out of India’s Champions Trophy winning campaign after being named in the provisional squad. As of now, Bumrah, who underwent back surgery in 2023, has been undergoing his rehab process at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.

As per a report in ESPNCricinfo on Friday, Bumrah is expected to join the MI squad by early April, subject to clearance from the medical team at BCCI CoE. At the same time, the report added, “It could not be confirmed exactly how many matches Bumrah would miss and if there was a definite date of return.”

MI’s first two IPL 2025 will be played away from home – against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on March 23 in Chennai, before traveling to Ahmedabad to face-off against Gujarat Titans (GT) on March 29.

MI’s first home match at the Wankhede Stadium will be against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 31, before traveling to Lucknow for facing Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 4 and then coming back to home to host Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 7.

MI’s other fast-bowling options include Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Reece Topley, Corbin Bosch, Arjun Tendulkar, Satyanarayana Raju, Ashwani Kumar, as well as all-rounders – captain Hardik Pandya, and Raj Angad Bawa.