Back injury rules Jasprit Bumrah out of South Africa Tests

As India prepare for the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa, they have been jolted with a body blow. Jasprit Bumrah, their premier fast bowler, has been ruled out of the series. The speedster has sustained a minor stress fracture on his lower back. It’s a big loss for Virat Kohli and Co as the Ahmedabad-born speedster has done exceptionally of late at the highest level.

Bumrah was India’s leading wicket-taker in the tour of the West Indies. The youngster notched 13 wickets at an average of 9.23 with a couple of five-wicket hauls to his name. He made his debut last year and has fifers in the longest format in South Africa, England, Australia as well as the Caribbean. Recently, he became the fastest Indian seamer to 50 Test wickets in a mere 11 matches.

As far as the forthcoming fixtures in concerned, the opening Test is scheduled to get underway on October in Visakhapatnam. Pune and Ranchi are the venues for the rest of the encounters. In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also named Bumrah’s replacement for the series. Bumrah’s injury has now opened the doors for the experienced Umesh Yadav.

Umesh last played Test cricket in Australia

The Vidarbha pacer has recently been a part of the India ‘A’ setup in the red-ball fixtures. The pacer played a couple of games in the Caribbean in Tarouba and Coolidge, and ended with five wickets. Umesh went wicketless though in the unofficial Test versus South Africa in Mysore. The 31-year-old last played Test cricket back in December 2018 against Australia at the Perth Stadium.

He has played 41 games in the format ever since his debut in 2011 and has gotten 119 wickets with four five-wicket hauls to his name. Albeit it will be hard for him to fill Bumrah’s shoes, Yadav has shown that he can crank up the pace and ruffle the feathers of many in the longest format of cricket.

In the encounters against Faf du Plessis’ Proteas, Yadav will have the likes of Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami for company in the fast bowling department. The seasoned campaigner has only played a couple of Tests against South Africa in 2015 and picked up only five wickets.

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