During IPL 2025 Mumbai Indians will miss their star pacer Jasprit Bumrah at the beginning of the competition according to their head coach Mahela Jayawardene. Ever since 2013 Mumbai Indians has maintained exclusive IPL affiliations with Bumrah.
Jayawardene stated during a news conference on Wednesday in Mumbai that he hopes the star pacer from India would soon join the team. “The fast bowler is in ‘good spirits’ while recuperating at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (previously the National Cricket Academy) in Bengaluru,” he added.
“[Bumrah] has just started his progress. We have to wait and see what their [BCCI medical team] feedback is on him,” Jayawardene said. “At the moment, everything is going well. But, obviously, it is on a day-to-day basis. He is in good spirits. Not having him is a challenge. He is one of the best bowlers in the world and he has been a fantastic pro for us for many years.
“We’ll have to wait or find an opportunity for someone else to step up. That’s how I see it. It gives us an element of trying a few things and see how things work. The early part of the season allows us to do that.”
Ever since joining MI in 2013, Jasprit Bumrah has taken 165 wickets in 133 games at this point. He has only missed one IPL season since he began playing, in 2023, due to a back issue.
The MI team includes the all-rounder Hardik Pandya, uncapped Ashwani Kumar, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Raj Angad Bawa, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Reece Topley, and Corbin Bosch, who replaced Lizaad Williams. The management will choose MI’s bowling lineup in Bumrah’s absence because Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar are also powerplay bowlers.
Reports suggest Bumrah requires more time to heal from his stress-related back injury which caused his long-term absence starting in January until MI added him to their squad in April. Bumrah sustained his back injury when Australia played India for the last Test in Sydney on January 4 during the second day of the match. Medical staff decided Bumrah should not participate in the Champions Trophy after his injury occurred therefore India won the trophy in the previous month. Bumrah has suffered from a back injury for the first time after he underwent surgical treatment in March 2023.
MI will play their first two IPL 2025 games away. On March 23, they play the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai to start their campaign. On March 29, they play the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad. Two days later, on March 31, MI will host the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for their maiden home game. They play the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Lucknow on April 4 and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home on April 7 during the first week of April.
