Jasprit Bumrah to Miss Initial Matches for Mumbai Indians, Likely to Join Squad Early April- IPL

Just days ahead of IPL 2025, Mumbai Indians (MI) are grappling with a major setback as the tournament approaches on March 22. MI’s star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss the first few matches of IPL 2025 as his return to the team is delayed. The ace pacer is still recovering from a back injury that has kept him out since January. As a result, he is expected to miss the initial games of the tournament. If all goes well, Bumrah could rejoin the MI squad by early April subject to clearance from the BCCI’s medical team at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. This means he will likely miss MI’s three matches in March as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

Bumrah’s injury is a stress-related problem in his lower back, which he picked up in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Sydney on January 4. This mishap also kept him out of the Champions Trophy, won recently by India. Interestingly, this is the first back injury for Bumrah since his March 2023 surgery, and his recovery is thus a make-or-break issue for him as well as for the Mumbai Indians franchise.

During the January squad announcement for the Champions Trophy, India’s chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, mentioned that the BCCI medical team advised Jasprit Bumrah to rest for at least five weeks following the Sydney Cricket Ground Test. Since the Champions Trophy kicked off on February 19, Bumrah was initially part of India’s provisional squad, but his recovery hit a snag. When he went to Bengaluru for further scans in early February, he continued to experience discomfort, which ultimately led to his exclusion from the final squad.

While there’s some clarity on his recovery timeline, it’s still uncertain exactly how many IPL matches he will miss or when he’ll return details that the BCCI medical team is carefully monitoring.

On the schedule front, Mumbai Indians (MI) will start their IPL 2025 campaign with two away games. Their first match is against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai on March 23, followed by a game against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on March 29. MI’s first home fixture is set for March 31, where they will host the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The action continues into early April with an away match against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 4 and a home game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 7.

Bumrah’s distinctive bowling action, which many fans admire, has unfortunately made him more prone to back injuries. This vulnerability means that his workload must be managed very carefully. The BCCI medical team, along with selectors and team strategists, is working hard to ensure that Bumrah gets enough rest between series and tournaments to help prevent any further complications.

Mumbai Indians Full Squad for IPL 2025

Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.

MI IPL 2025 Schedule