‘Another injury could be end of Jasprit Bumrah’

Legendary New Zealand pacer Shane Bond feared that another injury to Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah could potentially end his career.

Bumrah, who played a pivotal role in leading India to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup glory last year, ruled out from the Champions Trophy due to a back injury.

He sustained the injury in the five-match away Test series against Australia.

Bumrah is still undergoing rehabilitation at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and is doubtful for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Meanwhile, Bond, whose career shortened due to recurring back injuries, stressed the need for workload management to protect the pacer.

He warned, if Bumrah sustains another back injury, it could end his glittering 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 was quoted as saying by a cricket news website.

“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,” Shane Bond added.