Jasprit Bumrah has been advised to take a 12-month break from cricket to fully recover from his injuries, according to former India pacers Karsan Ghavri and Raju Kulkarni.
Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, a decision that adds to an already troubling pattern of injury-related absences. This setback comes after he picked up a back injury during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour of Australia.
Former India pacer Karsan Ghavri has suggested that Bumrah might benefit from stepping away from the game for as long as a year if that's what it takes to return to full fitness. Ghavri pointed out that India's packed cricketing calendar makes properly managing his workload genuinely difficult. He explained that Bumrah often enters tournaments while only partially fit, which then leads to breakdowns midway through a series due to workload strain.
Ghavri suggested that Bumrah should take a break for five to six months or even a year, and get back to 100 per cent fitness. He also pointed to Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both of whom have played through the IPL without injury setbacks, and should be brought back into the national fold.
Another former India seamer, Raju Kulkarni, offered a different suggestion, as he proposed that Bumrah should scale back to playing only Test cricket moving forward. He suggested that this would reduce the pressure on Bumrah and allow him to focus on a critical format.
Bumrah's absence from the team is a concern, especially with the 2027 ODI World Cup on the horizon. Several missed series in under two years isn't simply bad luck; it points to a recurring cycle where short-term fixes keep failing to address the underlying problem.
India's selectors must now balance short-term results against long-term player welfare. Giving Bumrah a proper, well-planned recovery now makes far more sense than another hurried comeback that just leads back to square one.
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has not yet made an official statement on Bumrah's recovery timeline. However, sources close to the team suggest that the board is considering a longer break for Bumrah to ensure his complete fitness recovery.
Source: Yahoo Sports