Jasprit Bumrah Returns to Action as Captain of Indian Cricket Team in T20I Series against Ireland

Bumrah Makes Comeback After Injury Hiatus

Star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has made a comeback into the Indian cricket team after a long injury hiatus. He will be leading the side in a three-match T20I series against Ireland, starting August 18. Bumrah last played for India in a T20I in September 2022 before his injury flared up. He missed the 2022 T20 World Cup due to the injury and all eyes were on him regarding his comeback, especially with the ODI World Cup set to be played in India from October 5. The BCCI secretary Jay Shah recently said that star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has made rapid strides on the road to recovery from injury.

Bumrah Fit and Ready to Play

Shah had clearly indicated that Bumrah is fit and ready to play in the T20I series in Ireland in August. Bumrah, who underwent surgery in New Zealand for a back injury, has been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy for a while now, and the pace spearhead had recently bowled his full quota of 10 overs against the visiting Mumbai side at the Alur grounds.

Skepticism Regarding Bumrah’s Intensity

While several reports have claimed that Bumrah has been bowling with good intensity in the nets, former India batter Wasim Jaffer was skeptical whether Bumrah will be able to bowl with the same intensity.

• “He is a huge part of the bowling attack. I feel he will have an extremely important role in the World Cup. We are missing him in death bowling. We have missed him this entire year. However, he needs to come back to fitness, and there will be a question mark whether he will be able to bowl the same way, at the same pace,” Jaffer said on Jio Cinema.

T20I Squad for Ireland Series

Apart from Bumrah, the other members in the side for the T20I series are mostly youngsters. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh form the young batting line-up while Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi are the spinners. Prasidh Krishna (back after long injury lay-off), Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan form the pace line-up. Ruturaj Gaikwad is the vice-captain of the squad.

• Team India (Senior Men) squad for T20I series against Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan

With PTI inputs