India vs Australia: Shreyas Iyer unlikely, Jasprit Bumrah set to miss Border-Gavaskar Trophy
India are likely to be without the services of their in-form batsman Shreyas Iyer for the second Test against Australia starting on February 17 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
The right-handed middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer is still reportedly training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and has not fully recovered yet from the back injury which kept him away from the home series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand with the white ball.
There are several reports in the media suggesting that Shreyas Iyer still requires more time to retain match fitness and even if he does, it is unlikely that the team management will be rushing him straight into high-intensity action between India and Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India are currently 1-0 ahead in the four-match series having defeated Australia by a huge margin of an innings and 132 runs in the first Test played in Nagpur last week, a pitch where Shreyas Iyer was particularly missed in the middle-order since his technique and style of batting against spin bowling has been a vital feature of India’s success in red-ball format matches.
However, there is more concerning news for the Indian team and its fans as their star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be out of action during the home series against Australia for three ODI matches as well in March.
It has been reported by several Indian media outlets that Jasprit Bumrah will miss the ODI series against Australia and will only make his comeback to full flight cricket in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), in which he plays for five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI).
There will be a few eyebrows raised with Jasprit Bumrah missing plenty of cricket for India over the past six or seven months or so, and would be making a comeback in the IPL for Mumbai Indians. But his progress and activities will be strictly monitored by the BCCI, who wants to keep him fresh for the possible ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in England in mid-2023.
Additionally, with India also slated to host the 50-over World Cup later this year in October-November, the BCCI is not too keen on rushing Jasprit Bumrah back into action and keeping him fresh and ready for the major assignments in the second half of this year.