Jasprit Bumrah, the fast bowler for Team India, revealed that he considered his period of absence from the sport due to injury to be a type of “off-season.”
He also expressed his joy at being able to spend significant time with his family, which had been challenging due to the continuous cricket commitments.
Bumrah has been sidelined since September 2022 due to a back injury, causing him to be absent from last year’s T20 World Cup and several other significant occasions.
After undergoing surgery in March, he finished his recovery at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and was appointed captain for the Ireland tour.
The 29-year-old is set to make his long-anticipated return as the Indian team takes on Ireland in the first T20I in Dublin this Friday.
Speaking in anticipation of the match, Bumrah looked back on his break from cricket. Addressing how he maintained his positive mindset during this period, the fast bowler remarked:
“I was not really thinking about it too much. Anyways you are facing an injury, so you are trying to solve that problem rather than thinking about what the world is saying or what you have to do. I was just thinking about recuperating and fixing things.”
“After the fix happened, I started enjoying my rehab as well. You learn to enjoy a game a lot more. Usually, we don’t get a lot of time off. Probably after 10-11 years, this is the first time in summer I was at home and I spoke to my mother about it.”
“I looked at it as off-season, got a lot of time to spend with my family. Looking at the positives. Obviously, it was a little disappointing that you are away from the game.“
”You want to play and contribute. You miss some important tournaments as well, but that’s something that you cannot control, so you can’t be really frustrated about it,” he went on to add.
Apart from Bumrah, the Ireland series will also see the reappearance of Prasidh Krishna, a fellow fast bowler, who was out of action due to a lumbar stress fracture and underwent surgery earlier this year.
“I was always preparing for a World Cup competition” – Bumrah’s plans to prepare for upcoming challenges and regain form
During his rehabilitation, Bumrah needed to balance his workload while also focusing on rigorous net practice to stay in sync for the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup.
The fast bowler acknowledged that with no Test matches on the horizon, he had to dedicate extra effort to training, keeping this awareness in the back of his mind.
“We were mindful that there is not a lot of Test cricket that I am going to play. In India’s cycle, there are no Test matches till the World Cup ends. In my rehab as well, I was not preparing for a T20 game.”
”I was always preparing for a World Cup competition. I have been bowling 10, 12, 15 overs. As I have bowled more overs, so it becomes easier to bowl lesser than what is required,” he said.
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Following the T20I series in Ireland, India will participate in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, scheduled from August 30 to September 17.
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