Vijay Raman
- Jul 25, 2023
- 4 min read

Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant back on the road to recovery

Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant back on the road to recovery. KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Prasidh Krishna are also set to make a comeback.

Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant on the road to recovery. Bumrah to finish his rehab soon and play for India | Walking Wicket (Images_ ©ImTanujSingh_Twitter) — Bumrah to finish his rehab soon and play for India (Images: ©ImTanujSingh/Twitter)

The Indian cricket team is in desperate need of a triumph in the ICC events and they will have a crack again, this time at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to be played at home later this year. India will hope to end their ICC trophy drought and add to their tally of two ODI World Cups that they won in 1983 and 2011.

But the road to the World Cup has not been a straightforward one as they continue to be uncertain with the availability of several of their senior players in the team. Middle order batters KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been an integral part of the Indian ODI set up for quite some time now but they have been out of action due to their bout of injuries.

Similarly, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah missed a large part of the last year due to his back injury, as is the case with pacer Prasidh Krishna. The other important player who faces a long rehabilitation time will be Rishabh Pant who was also expected to be in the scheme of things for the World Cup.

But the good news is all these aforementioned players have been recovering well and few of them are back to practicing in the nets. We will see the status of each of these players with respect to their injuries.

Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah has been missing in action since September 2022 and missed quite a lot of international games including the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022 and the recent WTC Final against Australia. He flew to New Zealand to undergo a back surgery in March this year and it has proved to be successful. As per a latest press release by the BCCI, he is currently in the last stage of rehab at the NCA, Bengaluru where he is bowling at full tilt and playing some practice matches organised by the NCA.

Bumrah is expected to back in India colours in the 3-match T20I series in Ireland to gain match practice ahead of Asia Cup 2023 and then the all-important World Cup.

Prasidh Krishna

The tall fast bowler has been a part of India’s limited overs plan for the last few years due to the pace factor he brings. Krishna did impress in his brief international career for India and for his IPL teams. But as things stand, he is currently recovering from a stress fracture he sustained last September while playing for India A.

He has not played any competitive cricket since then and had to miss the entirety of the IPL. While he may not be sureshot pick in the India squad for the World Cup, Krishna does stand a chance because of the pace dimension he brings to the table and his ability to pick up wickets.

“The two fast bowlers (Bumrah & Krishna) are in the final stages of their rehab and are bowling with full intensity in the nets. The duo will now play some practice games, which the NCA will organise. The BCCI Medical Team is pleased with their progress and will make a final decision after assessing them following the practice games,” said the BCCI in a release.

How are the injured batters shaping up?

With the potential arrival of Bumrah, the bowling strength seems to have increased but what about the batting? India have tried the likes of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order in ODIs, but the plan hasn’t quite worked out.

Shreyas Iyer

India have missed the services of Shreyas Iyer who was last seen in India’s home Test series against Australia earlier this year. He missed the first Test due to a sore back and came back in the second Test only to have a relapse of his lower back injury. He subsequently missed the IPL 2023 and WTC Final where he was touted to play.

According to an update by BCCI, the batter has resumed his batting practice in the nets and is close to his full fitness doing strength and fitness drills.

KL Rahul

Another batter who has been on the sidelines is India’s ODI wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul. He sustained a thigh injury back in the IPL and has not been in action since then. Like Iyer, Rahul is back in the nets which is a great sign for Team India ahead of the World Cup. He has been their wicketkeeper for the last few years and has been quite successful in that role.

BCCI in their update stated, “They (Iyer & Rahul) have resumed batting in the nets and are currently undergoing strength and fitness drills. The BCCI Medical Team is satisfied with their progress and will increase their intensity in terms of both skills and strength and conditioning in the coming days.”

Update regarding Rishabh Pant

In what is another piece of amazing news, India’s keeper batter Rishabh Pant has started batting and wicketkeeping practice in the nets, thus signalling a positive road to recovery. He has been out of action since last December due to a horrific road accident and faced a long duration on the sidelines. Slowly but surely, Pant is getting back to prime fitness. BCCI has a specially designed recovery plan for him and that seems to be yielding good results.

Though he might not be back in action like the others, but this is definitely a welcome boost for Indian cricket.

The Asia Cup starts on August 30.