BENGALURU: Mumbai Indians pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah looks in solid shape after a three-month layoff due to a back injury sustained during India’s tour of Australia this year and the 31-year-old will get better with more game time, coach Mahela Jayawardene said.
Bumrah had back spasms during India’s final test in Sydney in early January as they lost the series 3-1 and was also ruled out of a five-match Twenty20 international series with England and the triumphant 50-overs Champions Trophy campaign.
The talismanic seamer returned to action in Mumbai’s 12-run loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League on Monday, going wicketless and conceding 29 runs in his four overs, but Jayawardene said there were plenty of positives.
“I just spoke to him after the game and he looks in good nick,” Jayawardene told reporters.
“He’s disappointed as well. He wanted a win when he came back. But other than that, he looks fine. I think the pace was up and the execution was good.”
Jasprit Bumrah back with IPL’s Mumbai as he nears injury return
Jayawardene said Mumbai wanted to ease Bumrah back and Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar were the first choices to handle the new ball against Bengaluru.
“I think we’ve got two swing bowlers, we need to give them that opportunity first up,” Jayawardene said.
“Boom’s coming back from a three-month layoff as well. So we just wanted to ease him into the competition. He bowled well and he controlled things really well.
“The more he starts playing … he’ll get into it.
“The last time he was playing a test match, all of a sudden he’s playing a T20. So we need to understand that. The skills were brilliant but there are areas for us to improve.”
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