India’s biggest T20 cricket extravaganza, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is knocking on the door, and several franchises have already started their preparations for the upcoming IPL 2025 season. However, before the season kickoff, several players who were under rehabilitation for their injury concerns were yet to get their fitness clearance from Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy, also known as the Center of Excellence (COE).
Notably, premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah‘s name has been making headlines as uncertainty still persists over his injury status.
Uncertainty prevails over Bumrah’s return for IPL 2025
Not just Bumrah, but several other pace bowlers are awaiting the final clearance, which will make them eligible to play in the upcoming IPL season right from the start. For the unversed, Bumrah was ruled out of the Sydney Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after his back injury resurfaced, for which he underwent surgery in 2023.
As per Cricbuzz, the current Sports Science Chief, Nitin Patel, has been personally overseeing Bumrah’s progress. It was also revealed that the Ahmedabad-born pacer will most likely receive the final clearance by the end of March. But the clouds of doubts for Jasprit Bumrah remain shrouded regarding his participation in IPL 2025 in the Mumbai Indians (MI) jersey.
Also Read- IPL 2025: Jasprit Bumrah set to miss few games for Mumbai Indians
Notably, MI are set to play their IPL season opener against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk on March 23. But given Bumrah’s case, reports suggest that there is a chance the speedster may feature against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 31 in Mumbai.
Samson gets partial clearance, Jurel to keep wickets if he misses out
Apart from pacers, the dashing wicketkeeper-batter and Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain, Sanju Samson, who recently underwent surgery for his finger fracture, has passed the fitness test for batting but remains uncertain for wicketkeeping fitness. However, after some more tests, he may join the team. In case he fails to join RR in time, Dhruv Jurel is most likely to don the wicketkeeping gloves for the team. Rajasthan are set to play their tournament opener away from their home against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on March 23.
Two Lucknow pacers likely to get fitness clearance
As far as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are concerned, they are still in the queue to receive clearance for three prime pacers: Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, and Mohsin Khan. The express pacer Mayank Yadav, who was sidelined due to a back stress injury, has not played any form of cricket since October last year. Meanwhile, Avesh, who has been dealing with a knee injury, has been in rehab for a long time. The last time he played a game was against Kerala in January. It was also revealed that he took injections for the recurring knee issues during that match while representing Madhya Pradesh.
Last but not least, there has been barely any update on Mohsin Khan’s injury. He last played in a Vijay Hazare Trophy game between Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Chandigarh in December last year. However, it is expected that if not all the pacers, at least two of them are likely to get fitness clearance before LSG’s clash against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Vizag (Visakhapatnam) on March 24.
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