New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) : Mark Boucher, the former South Africa cricketer who served as Mumbai Indians head coach in last two seasons of the IPL, said the side always looks a lot better when Jasprit is there, adding that his absence for the initial matches of IPL 2025 isn’t a great sign for them. Bumrah is currently undergoing rehab at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (formerly the National Cricket Academy) in Bengaluru for a lower back injury which prevented him from bowling in the second innings of fifth Test at Sydney. Since then, Bumrah has been out of action and even missed India’s triumphant Champions
Trophy campaign. “Mumbai Indians without Jasprit Bumrah is straight away not a good thing. He’s probably the world’s best T20 bowler, and the fact that he can bowl in the powerplay and the death overs makes him a match winner in his own rights. Mumbai Indians with Jasprit Bumrah are always going to be a lot better team. “I would love to have had Jasprit Bumrah in my first season (when he missed IPL 2023 due to back injury). I think that if we had him, I’ve got no doubt that we could have been title contenders. We got to the third position, but, I mean, he’s the world’s best bowler, so any team without Jasprit Bumrah is well, not going to be as good a team as with him in it,” said Boucher, a JioStar expert, to
IANS in a virtual interaction prior to the 18th edition of the tournament. Bumrah has picked up 165
wickets in 133 matches for MI in the IPL, and Boucher thinks his absence will lead to MI
rejigging their bowling plans and four overseas players equation, with Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar becoming key figures. “The fact that he’s not available brings a guy like Trent Boult into the equation
where he’s going to have to probably lead the attack. Deepak Chahar as well is a new selection for Mumbai Indians, so I think he’s going to play a massive role as well.
