Jasprit Bumrah likely to fly to NZ for back surgery: Report

NEW DELHI: India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is likely to fly to New Zealand to undergo surgery for his back injury. According to a Cricbuzz report, the medical team of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the managers of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) have finalised a surgeon named Rowan Schouten, who had worked on England pacer Jofra Archer.The arrangements are being made on a war footing to have Bumrah, who has been out of action for the last five months, flown to Auckland at the earliest for the surgery.Schouten, in the past, had worked with renowned orthopedic surgeon Grahame Inglis, who had operated upon a few New Zealand players, including Shane Bond — the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians, who is likely to have suggested Schouten’s name.The report further said that Schouten had also assisted Inglis in the surgery of Australian pacer James Pattinson while he also handled Ben Dwarshuis and Jason Behrendorff’s surgery, who had also struggled with back issues. The recovery time for Bumrah is somewhere between 20 and 24 weeks, which means he could miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 and the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) in London, should India qualify. The right-arm quick last played for India in a T20I against Australia, on September 25 2022 and went to miss the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup due to his back injury.The current priority of the BCCI management is to get Bumrah ready for the World Cup in October-November.