Former Australia captain Michael Clarke feels pacer Jasprit Bumrah's injury might have a negative impact on Mumbai Indians (MI)'s IPL 2025 campaign. Bumrah will miss the first few games of the tournament as he is currently recuperating from a back injury at the BCCI Centre of Excellence at Bengaluru. MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene confirmed Bumrah would be needing some time to recover properly, but admitted his absence leaves a big void as the team bids for a record sixth IPL title.
Speaking on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, Clarke questioned Bumrah's effectiveness once he is back, saying that the former would need some time to get upto full speed.
"I'm just scared about Bumrah. He's had no cricket; he's not starting the tournament so he can't possibly be at his best in the first game. I know he's a freak and he can take five wickets but I think he will get better as the tournament goes. I just don't know. If there's no Bumrah, Mumbai will find it extremely difficult," said Clarke.
Bumrah has been sidelined since the final Test against Australia at Sydney in early January, when he could not bowl in the second innings as the hosts chased down 162 to seal a 3-1 series victory. As a result, he had also missed India's successful Champions Trophy campaign.
On being asked to pick his favourites for IPL 2025, Clarke backed SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to go all the way, despite admitting that their bowling would be the deciding factor.
"I'm probably going to be a little biased. If I pick a player now, based on favouritism for sure, I'm going to go with Pat Cummins and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Go the Aussies. But again, I think the bowling is important for Sunrisers. Their batting is strong enough to win the tournament, no doubt. Patty, as a captain, would have learned a lot as captain so his captaincy will improve this year. But it's just their bowling. They cannot afford their quicks to get injured. Their death bowling is so important, and he [Cummins] is a big part of that," he added.
For SRH, the biggest challenge for bowlers is to counter the flatness of the Uppal track.
But in Pat Cummins and Mohammed Shami, they have two smart operators who can assert themselves if the batting unit piles on the big scores.
The third Indian pacer could be a weak link but Harshal Patel, despite a higher economy rate, is a good death overs bowler.
While they have a wrist spinner in Adam Zampa, it would be difficult to include him in all conditions. In this scenario, Rahul Chahar and Abhishek Sharma's slow bowling would be handy.
(With PTI Inputs)
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