India vs South Africa 2019: Jasprit Bumrah Vows to a Strong Return

Jasprit Bumrah, the key pacer of India across formats, has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against South Africa. However, he is confident that he will return “stronger than the setback” after being ruled out with a minor stress fracture in his lower back. Bumrah took to Twitter and thanked his fans for their wishes after the news was announced on Tuesday, saying “injuries are part and parcel of the sport.”

This injury means Jasprit Bumrah will have to wait to play his first Test match at home. In recent times, he has been leading the pace attack for India, scalping 62 wickets in 12 Tests, all of them are away games. Bumrah has been in a great form and picked up 13 wickets in the recently-concluded two Test-matches in West Indies. That included two five-wicket hauls and a hat-trick as well.

Bumrah was rested from the T20I series against South Africa at home. Both teams shared the trophy as they ended in 1-1 after the first game was washed out. He was not even a part of the team in the limited-overs series in the West Indies tour.

However, Bumrah’s absence gave another chance to another pacer Umesh Yadav. Yadav has been a regular name in the squad for the home Tests for the last couple of years. He has picked up 10 wickets in his last Test at home, against the West Indies in last October.

India will surely miss Bumrah, whose magical spell of 5 for 7 in the first Test, including the hat-trick made the win easier for India. With this hat-trick, he also became only the third Indian to pick up a hat-trick in Test. Moreover, he is the only Asian pace bowler to take 5-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies.

Alongside Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami are the other pacers named in the Indian squad for the South Africa series.