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India pacer Jasprit Bumrah underwent a back surgery on Monday in New Zealand, and it has been learnt that the operation was conducted successfully by Dr Rowan Schouten, who is a well-known orthopaedic surgeon in Christchurch.
Dr Schouten is a New Zealand-trained orthopaedic surgeon specialising in the management of adult spinal conditions and hip replacement surgery. In the past, he has treated many sportspersons, including cricketers like James Pattinson and Jason Behrendorff besides Jofra Archer.
29-year-old Bumrah is in a race against time to get 100 per cent fit for the ODI World Cup, which will be played in India later this year.
It has been understood that Bumrah will stay in New Zealand till the end of March and later return to India for his rehab. The BCCI medical staff has prepared a roadmap for his return, which suggests that Bumrah will resume his bowling practice and training by August.
The plan is to gradually increase the veteran pacer’s workload to get him entirely fit for the ODI World Cup. Bumrah is the spearhead of India’s bowling line-up and his exclusion in the World Cup will be a big blow for India if he cannot recover before the start of the tournament.
Bumrah’s last international game was a T20I match against Australia at Hyderabad in September 2022. Later, he was ruled out of the white-ball series against South Africa at home due to a stress reaction in his lower back.
He was expected to make a comeback in January this year for the home series against Sri Lanka. However, he was again ruled out of the series after experiencing some niggles in his back.
Just a few days ago, he was ruled out of the upcoming season of the IPL and the World Test Championship final, to be played at The Oval from June 7 (if India qualifies).
The BCCI medical staff at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru is careful about Bumrah’s case and had suggested surgery as an option. The BCCI in consultation with Bumrah and the medical staff at the NCA decided to get the surgery done in New Zealand.
It has been a long wait for Bumrah as he has tried to make a comeback multiple times. In August last year, Bumrah missed the Asia Cup just before the start of the T20 World Cup in Australia. Initially, he was named in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup but was later ruled out of the tournament after playing two T20Is on September 23 and 25 against Australia in the home series.
After that series against Australia, Bumrah was expected to play the white-ball series against South Africa. However, he missed the first T20I against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram and was taken for scans, which revealed that he had suffered a stress-related injury.
Bumrah then went to the NCA for further scans where it was confirmed that his injury was serious, which eventually ruled him out of the important T20 World Cup.
In November last year, Bumrah resumed his rehab training and started to do his bowling practice by mid-December. The selectors were confident about him as he was progressing well and added him to India’s squad for the white-ball series against Sri Lanka after announcing the original squad a week before.
Bumrah first went through the match-simulation exercises at the NCA, where he was completely fine. However, while performing a fitness drill in Mumbai in January this year, he felt some discomfort in his back. It was later revealed in scans that he has some fresh issues in his back, which ruled him out of the entire series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Earlier, India captain Rohit Sharma mentioned that the team management will not rush to get Bumrah on the field as they want him to return only when he is completely fit to perform at his full capacity.
According to a report, Bumrah’s recovery will take around six months and he is likely to miss Asia Cup in September. However, there is still some hope that Bumrah might get fully fit before the ODI World Cup in October-November this year.
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