Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond has expressed serious concerns about the future of India's star fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. Bond warned that another injury to Bumrah in the same area could potentially end his career.
Bumrah, who played a crucial role in leading India to victory in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup last year, missed the recently concluded Champions Trophy due to a back injury sustained during the five-match Test series against Australia.
Currently, Bumrah is undergoing rehabilitation at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
His participation in the upcoming 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) remains uncertain.
Bond, who had his own career cut short due to recurring back injuries, emphasized the importance of workload management for Bumrah.
He cautioned that if the Indian pacer suffers another injury in the same area, it could potentially end his illustrious career.
"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 wasn't going to be a sprain, it might be a bony injury around that area.
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 IPL to the Test championship will be a risk," Bond said.
Bond added, "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."
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