India’s ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is apparently at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru for strengthening and conditioning purposes.
There are reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s medical team has come up with a plan for him, having the white-ball tour to England later this year in mind. There are 8 matches in all, and three of them are ODIs.
Every now and then, Bumrah heads to the CoE for assessment. There, he goes through a thorough check-up, and if there are any issues, injuries or biomechanics-related, a plan is devised for him to fix those problems.
The CoE is one of the reasons why Bumrah has been able to stay at his best all these years. Despite all sorts of injuries, he is bowling as fast as he did when he was much younger.
However, with the 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to kick off two days later, it’s a little surprising that the 32-year-old is at the CoE right now. Bumrah has given his availability for the entire season for five-time champions Mumbai Indians, and their season kicks off on March 29 as they host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium.
One would hope Bumrah’s visit to the CoE is a routine visit. He is India’s greatest fast bowler to date, and in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, he completed his 500 international wickets.
His bowling in the last three matches of the event for India, against West Indies, England and New Zealand (in this order) was pivotal to India winning back-to-back titles. Two years ago, in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies, Bumrah was Player of the Tournament as India claimed their first T20 World Cup trophy since 2007, also their first ICC trophy since their Champions Trophy win in 2013.
In recent years, he has been used carefully. He is one of the very few players in the Indian set-up that plays all three formats. So, he only features in important matches or series. Even during an important Test series like the away one against England last year, he has been rested to ensure he doesn’t injure himself. Last year, he had to miss the Champions Trophy because he was nursing an injury that he had picked up on India’s tour to Australia, in the series’ last Test.
