Jasprit Bumrah will miss India's two-Test tour of Sri Lanka due to a lingering knee issue, paving the way for Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi to earn his first national call-up.
Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss India's two-Test tour of Sri Lanka as he is yet to recover from his knee injury.
Jammu and Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi is all set to earn his maiden call-up to the national team as Bumrah's replacement. Nabi will be the third player after Parvez Rasool and Umran Malik to get a senior national call-up, though Rasool and Malik were summoned for the white-ball set-up.
"Bumrah is not fit and Auqib Nabi has been approved as his replacement," a BCCI source informed PTI.
Nabi has picked up 100-plus wickets in the last two Ranji Trophy seasons and was the chief architect of J&K's red-ball triumph. He is also considered a handy customer with the bat.
The swelling in Bumrah's knee appears more serious than initially thought, and the Sports Science team at Bengaluru's Centre of Excellence does not want to rush the seasoned pacer back into international cricket given a packed calendar ahead.
"The two people who run the COE, Dhananjay and Thulasi have decided that Bumrah can't be risked. It must be said that initially both team management and selection committee were made to believe that Bumrah could be available for at least one of the two Tests," a BCCI source said, citing how the COE's functioning has left everyone baffled.
The Sri Lanka series begins on August 15 in Galle. The 32-year-old Bumrah had missed the third ODI against England at Lord's last month after sustaining an impact injury. He recently reported to the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and was expected to be match-fit by the time the Sri Lanka series begins, but it has been learnt that he is still feeling some discomfort.
Even if Bumrah gets fit before August 15 or the second Test starting at Colombo on August 23, the medical team is unsure whether a Test match is the correct format to bring him back, given the massive workload demanded on the docile tracks.
It will be interesting to see whether selectors pick Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi or Vidarbha's Yash Thakur as Bumrah's replacement.
India are already without Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, and Washington Sundar, all sidelined by hamstring niggles, who will miss at least the first Test. Meanwhile, B. Sai Sudharsan is batting 75 minutes in the nets at the COE as he steadily recovers from a foot injury sustained during the recent India A series in Sri Lanka. It will be known in the coming days whether he will be available for the series against Lanka.
Reporting sourced from The Hindu Cricket. Photo courtesy The Hindu Cricket.