India’s Bumrah ruled out of Sri Lanka ODI series

Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been pulled out of the One-Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka due to back stiffness, skipper Rohit Sharma said Monday, less than a week after he was recalled to the squad.

Bumrah, 29, has been out of action since September with a back injury but was named in the initial squad for the matches starting Tuesday in Guwahati.

But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said Bumrah “will need some more time to build bowling resilience” and the decision was taken “as a precautionary measure”.

On the eve of the ODI opener, Rohit told reporters, “Very unfortunate incident with him. Poor guy has been working really hard at NCA (National Cricket Academy) for all this time.

“Just when he got back to his full fitness, he started bowling and everything. Last two days, I think this incident happened where he felt a little bit of stiffness in his back.

“When Bumrah says anything, we had to be very cautious about it and that is what we did.”

Bumrah also missed the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, where India lost to England in the semi-finals.

Rohit returns to the ODI team alongside star batsman Virat Kohli after missing the Twenty20 series, which the hosts won 2-1 under Hardik Pandya.

The 35-year-old Rohit said he has not given much thought to his T20 future in a year of the 50-over World Cup in India.

“It is a World Cup year for us. If you look at some players’ workload, we wanted to make sure that we give them enough break time and manage them and I definitely fall in that as well,” Rohit said of his break.

“We will see what happens after IPL (Indian Premier League), but certainly I have not decided to give up the format.”

Pandya, who led debutants Gujarat Titans to the IPL crown last year, is being seen as Rohit’s successor as regular T20 skipper.