India's premier fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, has been recently out of the cricketing action following the back injury that occurred during the final Sydney test in the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy. The bowler was taken for the scans during the first innings as he felt discomfort while heading back to the bowling mark. Before the injury, the player picked 31 wickets and was the only major threat to the Australian batting lineup during the tour.

Bumrah's absence was felt in the final innings as Australia chased down the 161-run target with a loss of four wickets. The player is currently undergoing rehab at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. As per reports, Bumrah is likely to join Mumbai Indians in the first week of April. Amidst all of this, former New Zealand bowler Shane Bond has asked Jasprit Bumrah to manage his workload effectively, as another injury on the same spot might prove to be career-ending.

Shane Bond urges Jasprit Bumrah to be careful moving ahead

Former New Zealand speedster Shane Bond who had a long 9-year stint as Mumbai Indians' bowling coach had spent a significant time with Jasprit Bumrah. 

"When he went off for scans, it was at Sydney, there was some messaging coming up around that he had sprains and stuff like that. I worried that it wasn’t going to be a sprain, it might be a bony injury around that area [the back]. I thought he may struggle to make the Champions Trophy if it was,” Bond told ESPN Cricinfo.

Shane Bond emphasized the importance of managing workload, "Look, I think Booms will be fine, but it's just that [workload] management [matters]. Looking at the tours and the schedule going forward, where are the opportunities to give him a break, but really where are the danger periods? And often it is that the [transition from] IPL to the Test championship will be a risk."

The 49-year-old further elaborated on the challenges and vulnerability of fast bowlers transitioning quickly between T20 and Test matches. “Anywhere you transition from particularly T20 to a Test match, it’s challenging. If you are playing a one-day series, it’s generally not too bad. You will play three games a week, you will have a practice, you are sort of in around that 40 overs [range], that’s pretty close to a Test match week anyway.

“But in T20, particularly in the IPL, when you might be playing three games in a week, there’s two days of travel, you might get one training [session], you are sort of bowling 20 overs maybe if you’re lucky. That’s sort of half of a Test match load or even under a half of, which then is a big jump and you are not bowling back-to-back days. That’s a big jump when you transition out of that,” he added.

"Another injury on the same spot could be career ending," Bond warns Jasprit Bumrah

According to cricket experts, fast bowlers are more prone to injuries considering the amount of effort they put into the process. Former MI bowling has hoped Jasprit Bumrah to not play more than two tests on the trot, as this would make him more vulnerable to another injury on the same spot.

"He’s too valuable for the next World Cup and stuff. So you’d be looking at five Tests in England, I wouldn’t want to be playing him in any more than two in a row. Coming out of the back end of the IPL into a Test match is going to be a huge risk. And so how do they manage that is going to be key.

“They may say, look, it’s four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he’s fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that’s hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I’m not sure you can have surgery on that spot again,” he explained.