Bumrah in Good Nick After Injury Layoff, Mumbai Indians Easing Him into IPL: Jayawardene
Mumbai, Apr 8: India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is in “good nick” following a three-month injury layoff, and Mumbai Indians are taking a cautious approach by easing him back into competition mode in the Indian Premier League, head coach Mahela Jayawardene said on Monday.
Bumrah made his much-anticipated return to top-flight cricket during Mumbai Indians’ clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Wankhede Stadium. The match marked his first appearance since January, when he was sidelined with a back-related injury. Though he started his spell with a six by Virat Kohli over mid-wicket, the pacer bowled a tidy spell overall, even as MI slumped to their fourth loss in five matches.
“I just spoke to him after the game and he looks in good nick. He’s disappointed too — he wanted a win on his return — but he looks fine. The pace was up and the execution was good,” Jayawardene said at the post-match press conference.
Defending the decision to hold Bumrah back during the early overs, Jayawardene said the team was focused on managing his workload.
“Having Bumrah back gives us more options. We have two swing bowlers, and we wanted to give them the opportunity up front. Boom is coming off a three-month layoff, so we just wanted to ease him into the competition,” he said.
Jayawardene noted that Bumrah’s transition from playing a Test match previously to jumping into a T20 game required adjustment but praised his skill level. “He bowled well and controlled things really well. The skills were brilliant,” he added.
The MI head coach revealed that Bumrah only resumed bowling to batters a day before the game. “Yesterday was his first day bowling to batsmen. That’s something we lacked in the last few games, and now we have that again. We just need to put all the pieces together and execute a good game,” he said.
Bumrah had undergone rehab at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA), where he cleared all fitness protocols before rejoining the team.
“NCA has a structured programme for all centrally contracted players. He had five to six good sessions there and passed all the tests. The only thing missing was game-time, which we addressed in training yesterday,” Jayawardene explained.
Despite the loss, Jayawardene expressed satisfaction with Bumrah’s return. “He bowled to some top players today and probably had only two or three bad deliveries in his spell. I’m pretty happy with that.”
