Jasprit Bumrah added to ODI Squad against Sri Lanka

BCCI had earlier omitted the pacer Jasprit Bumrah from the ODI squad against Sri Lanka which will have three bilateral games as part of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League 2020 – 2023. Bumrah had a stress reaction in his back in September 2022 during the home T20Is against Australia last year. The injury caused a major setback for team India’s chances in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia where they lost the Semi-Final one-sided against England. 

NEWS – The All-India Senior Selection Committee has included pacer Jasprit Bumrah in India’s ODI squad for the upcoming Mastercard 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka.

More details here – https://t.co/hIoAKbDnLA #INDvSL #TeamIndia

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 3, 2023

Road to Recovery

Since September, Jasprit Bumrah has been working on his rehabilitation at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and has been bowling on a consistent basis for the past week and have greatly amped up his training routine ever since. Bumrah underwent strict fitness standards of BCCI and has satisfied his fitness coaches at the NCA regarding his complete road to recovery. 

Why Bumrah Added Late

Many fans are questioning the reason why Jasprit Bumrah was not added to the ODI squad against Sri Lanka earlier even though it was reported by many news outlets in India that he is completely fit and ready to go. BCCI was just being cautious in this regard as the last time when Australia toured India they decided to play him a bit earlier which caused his injury to come back and severely dented India’s hopes before the World Cup in Australia. 

However, after Jasprit Bumrah provided his complete fitness at the NCA, it was decided by the BCCI selection panel to add him into the ODI squad against Sri Lanka so that he can regain his rhythm and bowling mojo before the Australia tour of India 2023 starts which have 4 test matches and three ODIs. Bumrah’s fitness and rhythm will be a crucial factor for team India if they want to play the World Test Championship Final in June 2023. 

India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs

Below is the updated and confirmed squad for the Sri Lanka tour of India 2023 ODI series. 

Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-capt), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.

India is doing their full preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup which will be played in October-November this year and having a full-strength pace attack available for all upcoming ODI series is important for the team’s preparations going into the mega tournament. The pace options for ODIs are Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, and Umran Malik along with Hardik Pandya as a bowling all-rounder. 

Stats for Jasprit Bumrah in ODIs

Jasprit Bumrah is among the best ODI bowlers in the world circuit and has won many many International games for India already through his masterful length-to-length bowling along with his superb change of pace deliveries. Below are the stats of Bumrah in ODIs so far.

Mat	Inns	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ
72	72	122	6/19	24.30	4.63

Having Bumrah in the ODI squad of team India means he will bowl all the difficult overs in the game by starting in the powerplay with a newer ball and then bowling right at the death to restrict players go hard with his skillful yorker lengths. Bumrah is often used at the stage of 32 to 38 overs as well in ODIs if a captain is desperate to break the partnership so all in one having a champion bowler completely fit is great news for team India in 2023.