For Indian cricket fans, Jasprit Bumrah’s name is synonymous with match-winning spells and outlandish bowling brilliance. But behind the thunderous yorkers and pinpoint accuracy, the trade off is enormous— Bumrah’s recurring back issues. Former New Zealand pacer and current Rajasthan Royals (RR) bowling coach Shane Bond has now voiced serious fears, warning that another injury in the same spot “could be a career-ender.”
What’s ailing Jasprit Bumrah?
Bumrah hasn’t played since walking off for scans mid-way during the fifth Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test in Sydney earlier this year. Initially believed to be back spasms, it was later diagnosed as a stress-related injury, ruling him out of the ICC Champions Trophy. Currently undergoing rehab at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, there remains uncertainty about Bumrah’s participation in the upcoming IPL 2025 for Mumbai Indians (MI). Reports suggested that Bumrah is likely to miss the first two weeks of IPL 2025.
This injury marks the first time Bumrah has encountered back issues since his surgery in March 2023. Bond, who worked closely with Bumrah during his coaching stint at Mumbai Indians, emphasized the need for conservative workload management to safeguard the Indian star’s career.
Danger Zone: IPL to India tour of England
Bond pointed out the risks associated with transitioning from T20 cricket to the physically demanding Test format. India’s hectic schedule includes a five-Test series in England starting June 28, just a month after the IPL 2025 concludes.
“Look, I think Booms (Bumrah) will be fine, but it’s just that [workload] management [matters],” Bond said. “Looking at the tours and the schedule going forward, where are the opportunities to give him a break, but really where are the danger periods? And often it is that the [transition from] IPL to the Test championship will be a risk.
“Anywhere you transition from particularly T20 to a Test match, it’s challenging. If you are playing a one-day series, it’s generally not too bad. You will play three games a week, you will have a practice, you are sort of in around that 40 overs [range], that’s pretty close to a Test match week anyway.
“But in T20, particularly in the IPL, when you might be playing three games in a week, there’s two days of travel, you might get one training [session], you are sort of bowling 20 overs maybe if you’re lucky. That’s sort of half of a Test match load or even under a half of, which then is a big jump and you are not bowling back-to-back days. That’s a big jump when you transition out of that.”
No 2 consecutive Test matches, says Shane Bond
Bond advised India to avoid giving Bumrah a similar workload to the grueling Australia series earlier this year, where he bowled 151.2 overs across five Tests. Bond recommended limiting Bumrah to “no more than two consecutive Tests” to avoid risking his fitness.
“They may say, look, it’s four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he’s fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that’s hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I’m not sure you can have surgery on that spot again.”
Given Bumrah’s paramount importance in every format of the game, India lies in a catch 22 situation. They cannot afford to risk Bumrah considering the immense toll his body has taken. On the flip side, you cannot keep him out of action for an extended time, especially on a tour like England, where we haven’t won a Test series since 2007.
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