Jasprit Bumrah’s big career move after winning T20 World Cup; BCCI makes stance clear: ‘Around 30-35 games’ - Report

The report also states that Bumrah is keen on playing at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, though that remains a longer-term goal. For now, once the IPL 2026 ends, preparations for the 50-overs World Cup will be in full swing, and Bumrah, an integral part of India’s plans for the showpiece ICC event, will remain razor-sharp in his focus. Besides ODIs, Bumrah also remains crucial to India in the red-ball format, and with the team eyeing the ICC World Test Championship final, the pacer is expected to divide his attention between Tests and ODIs.

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“Obviously, Bumrah's fitness, as always, is key to any of India's global campaign, and hence the Indian team management will have to be very careful and prioritise the formats. Keep Test cricket aside, which he will obviously play, but in the 50-over World Cup cycle, he will concentrate more on ODIs. There will be around 30-35 odd games, and one can't take chances,” PTI quoted a BCCI source as saying.

Given Bumrah’s history of injuries, it’s imminent that the pacer takes this approach. In the last four overs, Bumrah has missed out on two big ICC events – the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia and last year’s Champions Trophy – due to career-threatening back injuries. Bumrah, 10 years into his international career, has yet to win the ODI World Cup or the World Test Championship, despite making the finals of both.

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As Bumrah’s legend grows – he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 16 wickets – the pacer and the BCCI itself know that he must be preserved as much as possible. Indian cricket has been blessed with several great fast bowlers – Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma – but few have quite matched Bumrah’s genius. The decision-makers have used him judiciously in the past as well. He missed two of the five Tests India played in England last year, with a similar workload-management approach expected to continue.

Gambhir, Laxman and Gill to work on India’s future roadmap

With the next two months expected to be gruelling as the Indian Premier League returns for its 19th season, head coach Gautam Gambhir, COE head VVS Laxman and India’s ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill are expected to have already finalised the blueprint for India’s plans over the next year and a half by the time the league concludes.

Although India’s T20I calendar is far more packed than its ODI schedule, the team is set to play 15 T20Is in addition to matches at the Asian Games. India will also feature in 15 ODIs, with several more fixtures expected to be announced as part of the next FTP in the build-up to the World Cup. In less than four weeks, Bumrah returns to action for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, where his participation in at least 14 matches is a given. Once that is done, Bumrah’s workload management will begin, with the pacer set to prioritise ODIs over T20Is.

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