The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly assigned a dedicated three-member team of the Centre of Excellence (CoE, previously, the National Cricket Academy) in Bengaluru to look after the recovery process of vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy.
According to PTI, Bumrah has only recently completed his five-week offloading — i.e. complete rest, even from any gym work — after suffering a back injury in the Sydney Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. He’s now in rehabilitation at the CoE and is racing against time to be fit for the ICC tournament.
“Strength and Conditioning (S&C) coach Rajnikanth Sivagnanam and physio Thulasi Ram Yuvraj are currently working on Bumrah’s rehabilitation with the Head of Sports Science, Dr Nitin Patel, personally monitoring the whole process. Obviously, the national team S&C coach Soham Desai and physio Kamlesh Jain are also kept in the loop,” PTI quoted a senior BCCI official as saying.
The report said that it’s part of the CoE’s rules that one strength-and-conditioning coach, one physio for injury monitoring and a bowling or batting coach to monitor the skills part are allotted to navigate the recovery process. It added that Desai isn’t working with Bumrah currently and is traveling with the Indian team for the ongoing home series against England.
The agency’s report further added that if and when Bumrah is allowed to bowl, it is expected that the CoE fast-bowling coach Troy Cooley will be monitoring that part.
The final medical detail from Patel about Bumrah’s availability will be sent to BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar while head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit Sharma will also be notified.
The report concluded by saying that the BCCI would wait until the last moment to make a final call on Bumrah.
