Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond feels that an injury around the same area on the back could potentially be a 'career-ender' for India pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Bond's remarks come after Bumrah was excluded from India's Champions Trophy squad and hasn't played since picking up a back injury in the Sydney Test against Australia in January earlier this year.

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"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," Bond told ESPNcricinfo in a chat. "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."

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Bond explained that it is the transition, especially from T20s to Test cricket, that takes a toll on a bowlers body. Bumrah had a back surgery in 2023 but he went on to play five Tests continuously in Australia which may have triggered the problem. 

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"Look, I think Booms will be fine, but it's just that [workload] management [matters]," Bond said.

"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.

"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," added Bond.

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With IPL set to start in less than two weeks and England tour thereafter, it'll be interesting to see how Bumrah is managed by the BCCI.