Mumbai, Apr 6: In a development that brings immense joy to fans worldwide, fast bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has joined the Mumbai Indians camp ahead of their IPL 2025 clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, scheduled for Monday at the Wankhede Stadium.

Bumrah had been out of action since suffering a back injury on day two of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That injury meant Bumrah missed bowling in the second innings, as Australia won the series 3-1.

After being told to offload for five weeks, Bumrah’s recovery process began at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, which also forced him to miss India’s white-ball assignments against England and the victorious Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai.

The five-time champions have shared about Bumrah's arrival to the camp on its social media with a caption, "Ready to roar".

Sources have told IANS that Bumrah linked up with the five-time IPL champions on Saturday evening, after playing a practice game at the CoE earlier in the morning and subsequently getting the green signal from the medical team.

"It is a big boost for the side to have someone of Jasprit’s calibre being fully fit and coming back in the MI camp, and understandably everyone is very thrilled. But whether he plays in tomorrow’s game against RCB, no one is still sure about it.

"Ideally, Bumrah should play, but, playing in tomorrow’s game will be his decision, as well as after having chats with the MI think tank led by head coach Mahela Jayawardene," added the sources.

Answers to Bumrah’s availability will also be officially known when MI holds it’s pre-match press conference at 5:30 pm on Sunday evening, before kickstarting its practice at the Wankhede Stadium from 6-9 pm.

Since making his IPL debut in 2013, Bumrah has been the lynchpin of MI’s bowling line-up, picking up 165 wickets in 133 matches for the franchise.

The only season he missed for MI in the IPL was in 2023, when he was recovering from a back injury that needed surgery. Bumrah’s return is a big boost for MI, who are in eighth place with two points from four games and need to stitch wins for having a shot at entering the playoffs.

--IANS

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