Jasprit Bumrah makes his return to competitive cricket as he will lead India during the T20I series against Ireland, starting in August, announced Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday. The pacer underwent a successful back surgery in March and has not played competitive cricket since a T20I match at home against Australia in last September. He had also missed a lot of action in the Asia Cup when his back injury surfaced. Following this, he made a brief return to action during the Australia T20I series at home in September, but his injury resurfaced. Bumrah was chosen for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in January this year after he had started his rehab in November last year and started to bowl in December. But during his fitness drills in January, which increased in intensity, he started to face discomfort once again. He also missed ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The squad also witness new faces like Rinku Singh, who had a breakthrough Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Kolkata Knight Riders, scoring 474 runs in 14 matches at an average of over 59 with four half-centuries. Pacer Prasidh krishna, last played for Team India in August 2022 against Zimbabwe. Due to a lumbar stress fracture, he missed the IPL 2023, where he was to play for Rajasthan Royals.
All-rounder Shivam Dube, who last played for India in February 2020, also makes his return to the side after a hard-hitting 2023 IPL season with Chennai Super Kings, for which he hit 418 runs in 16 matches with three fifties and impressed with his power-hitting in a title-winning campaign.
