Premier Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah underwent a back surgery in New Zealand earlier this month but the details about his recovery process are only known to former Indian cricketer and NCA chief VVS Laxman.
According to an Indian Express report, the BCCI have assigned Laxman as the sole representative to get regular updates from Bumrah. Even the selectors don't have a clear idea about the extent of injury and the surgery that followed.
"Not many in the BCCI are aware of his injury. Only VVS Laxman (NCA director) has been assigned to speak to him and the physios. Even the selection committee has been told that they will be informed about Bumrah's actual injury and his rehab details in due course," a BCCI source told the newspaper.
The BCCI source also accepted that Bumrah was hastened back into the scheme of things in September 2022 with the T20 World Cup in sight. The 29-year old pacer has been out of competitive cricket since late September last year, when he pulled out of the home T20Is against South Africa and subsequently missed the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
He had also missed the Asia Cup held last year in the UAE. After making a recovery, the pacer attempted a comeback in January this year for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. But, Bumrah was withdrawn on the eve of the ODI series opener at Guwahati, with the BCCI citing the need for him to build bowling resilience, and calling the decision as a precautionary measure.
"His back is in a fragile state right now. Besides, last time Bumrah's return was hastened. Since he hadn't fully recovered, he had discomfort while bowling on his return. This time, we are more conservative as a wrong call might even result in a career-threatening injury," the source said.
The whole scenario has raised the question over transparency of NCA. Not only Bumrah, there are many other Indian pacers like Mukesh Choudhary, Prasidh Krishna and others as well, who are also injured but there is no clarity on their status.