L Balaji urges returning Bumrah, P Krishna to ‘listen to their bodies’ as India gear up for packed winter

Two Indian premier seam bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, returned to the T20I squad for the Ireland series, starting Friday, August 18, in Dublin. Having undergone back surgeries earlier, both bowlers made stunning progress during rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Upon attaining complete fitness, Bumrah and Krishna are back in reckoning. Lakshmipathy Balaji, the former India seamer, feels both the seamers must first listen to their bodies to sustain at the top level, given the packed calendar.

As Bumrah gears up for his maiden stint as T20I captain (for the Ireland T20Is), Balaji said he must not rush into putting too much effort and should take it game by game.

Although in the latest video posted by BCCI on its social media handles, Bumrah is seen bowling fast, Balaji opines if he wants to make it to the World Cup XI, Bumrah must be careful with his game plan.

The moment we have all been waiting for. @Jaspritbumrah93 like we have always known him. 🔥🔥 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/uyIzm2lcI9 — BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2023

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Having already missed a lot of action since September last yearwhen he got ruled out of cricket for an indefinite period due to a reoccurring back injury, Bumrah must look into his training and try and get more match practice as possible to be ready for the bigger challenge.

Speaking with IANS, former seamer Balaji said,"With the full fitness already being reached, I am sure that the build-up to the bowling workload at the NCA after surgery would have already given them a lot of confidence and body conditioning. So, it is about match rhythm now, and you need to be 100% sure about how you go about match day, post-match recovery and following day how your training is.”

‘Important to listen to body demands’

Balaji, who also suffered the same fate during his career that saw his game time cut down due to similar back issues, said he listened to his body and that worked in his favour.

Speaking on how Bumrah and Krishna must take care of their bodies going forward, Balaji said both must follow the same path and listen to the demands of their bodies.

"Both of them have played a lot of cricket, and aren't young anymore in international cricket. So, they know how their body reacts. I had my own routines when I had the surgery and then came back to cricket. I really invested and listened to the body more closely than before, according to the demands."

"Personally, after undergoing surgery, it's very important to listen to your body and its demands on a particular day. Plus, one has to ramp up their fitness levels to meet the demand of international cricket. Psychologically, you will have a lot of doubts, like when you are resuming your bowling action and how the body will react. So, they will have to progress very, very cautiously over a period of time," he added.

Both seamers are likely to play all three games in Ireland as they eye spots in India’s Asia Cup and World Cup squads.

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