Former New Zealand pacer and ex-Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond said that another injury at the same spot where Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah had his surgery could be a career-ender and added that in future, he would not like to see him play more than two Test matches in one go, ESPNCricinfo reported. Bumrah has been nursing a lower back injury, which ruled him out of India’s famous run to Champions Trophy victory on Sunday. The bowler who has been branded as a “national treasure” by star batter Virat Kohli, fought a lone battle for India during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, taking 32 wickets in five matches, before breaking down in the final Test match at Sydney earlier this year in January, suffering what turned out to be a stress-related injury.
He has not played any competitive cricket since then and also missed India’s victorious ICC Champions Trophy campaign.
Bumrah is completing his rehab at Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and there is no clarity over his availability for Mumbai Indians (MI) during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from March 22 onwards.
Bumrah has not suffered a back injury for the first time, as he had surgery for it in March 2023. Bond, who worked with MI in the past as a bowling coach and is currently Rajasthan Royals’ bowling coach, said that Bumrah’s workload needs careful management to avoid another injury.
Bond is also notably known for having a back-injury-affected career himself. He played just 120 matches and picked 259 scalps for Kiwis from 2001-10. Like Bumrah, he had his first back surgery at 29. Despite his persistent injuries, Bond played till the age of 34, first retiring from Tests, then from all formats within less than six months.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo about Bumrah, he said, “When he went off for scans, it was at Sydney, there was some messaging coming up around that he had sprains and stuff like that. I worried that it was not going to be a sprain, it might be a bony injury around that area [the back]. I thought he may struggle to make the Champions Trophy if it was.”
Bond highlighted that the danger zone lies in the quick transition from T20 to Test cricket. The former pacer highlighted it as a challenge as India prepares for the England tour of five Test matches, barely a month after the IPL ends on May 25.
“Look, I think Booms will be fine, but it is 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 is challenging. If you are playing a one-day series, it is 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 is 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 are two days of travel, you might get one training [session], you are sort of bowling 20 overs maybe if you are 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 is a big jump when you transition out of that,” he concluded his point.
India’s tour to England will be a tight one, with five Tests between June 28 to August 3. Bond said that India should not give Bumrah the workload he endured on the Australia tour, bowling a total of 151.2 overs, including 52 during the fourth Test, a Boxing Day game at Melbourne, his most in a Test match.
“He is too valuable for the next World Cup and stuff. So you would be looking at five Tests in England, I would not want to be playing him in any more than two in a row. Coming out of the back end of the IPL into a Test match is going to be a huge risk. And so how do they manage that is going to be key.”
“They may say, look, it is four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he is fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that is 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 am not sure you can have surgery on that spot again.”
With Indian domestic season over, IPL is the only competitive cricket Bumrah can play before England tour. Bond feels IPL is “maybe touch and go” for Bumrah and “there will be an element of risk depending on the intensity that he is bowling at by the time he gets back”.
Bond said that it is Bumrah’s responsibility to work with the decision-makers in Indian cricket to plan a safe path that would help him secure longevity. “So it is going to take some good management and just some open conversations with the player and say, look, we are doing this with your best interest in your career. Any player who has gone through that, and having myself [gone through it], you are desperate to play, but you also understand there are some risks at certain times and you have to make some compromises.”
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