Indian Prime Minister Jasprit Bumrah’s pacemaker will soon make his return to international cricket as he is included in India’s squad for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Bumrah last played for the Indian side in a T20I against Australia in September last year, before being knocked out of the T20 World Cup with a fracture in his back.

Bumrah’s return will strengthen India’s fast bowling department where the team has been lacking real pace for some time.

It will be interesting to see how Bumrah is handled by team management given the importance he has been to the squad in a year when they will be playing the World Cup at the age of 50 at home.

Bumrah’s entry comes two days after the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced new measures to ensure key players don’t collapse from injuries ahead of major international tournaments.

Bumrah has been a key figure for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL for years and all eyes are also on handling the franchise’s workload in this year’s tournament.

“Bumrah has been absent from cricket since September 2022 and was also absent from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to a back injury. Pacer underwent rehabilitation and was declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He will soon be joining the Team India ODI squad,” said a BCCI statement regarding Bumrah’s entry.

India’s latest squad for Sri Lanka ODI:Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah , Mohd. Syami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.