Rohit Sharma Rues Loss of Jasprit Bumrah in the IPL 2023

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that Jasprit Bumrah’s absence from the upcoming 16th season of the tournament due to a back injury will be a “big miss” for the team but said it opens up an opportunity for some other young players in the team to stand up and deliver. The record five-time IPL winners will be without the services of their pace spearhead- Jasprit Bumrah for the entire tournament as he has been suffering from a recurring back injury and has reportedly undergone surgery in New Zealand.  

Mumbai hasn’t announced the replacement player for Bumrah. It will be interesting to see who will come in as Bumrah’s replacement as there aren’t many capped Indian pacers available that could arguably fill his big boots. MI would definitely have started working on their combinations in absence of Bumrah. Addressing a press conference ahead of the IPL 2023, Mumbai skipper Rohit asserted that Bumrah will be a big miss but also sights it as an opportunity for young pacers in the team to showcase their talent. The MI opener also insists that he will not be putting too much pressure on the youngsters. 

Rohit Wants Youngsters to Step up in Bumrah’s Absence

“He (Bumrah) is a big miss. But it’s an opportunity for the youngsters in the team. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the youngsters. Leading up to the first game, guys know what their role is, the last thing we want to do is put pressure on them. For guys who haven’t played the IPL before, there are quite a few guys, and if they get an opportunity, I would love to keep it simple for them. We have a couple of guys who could do Bumrah’s role in the team,” Rohit Sharma said in the press conference ahead of the start of the tournament. 

It’s not just Bumrah’s injury that will be a cause of concern for the Mumbai-based franchise. Australian recruit Jhye Richardson has been ruled out of the competition due to injury. Like Bumrah, Richardson’s replacement has not been announced by the franchise. The upcoming season will be huge for Rohit Sharma and Co as they were able to win only four out of the 14 matches they played in the league stage last year and finished outside the top four for the second straight season.

Mumbai Squad IPL 2023 Updated Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ramandeep Singh, Dewald Brevis, Ishan Kishan (wk), Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Jofra Archer, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Tim David, Tristan Stubbs, Arshad Khan, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Cameron Green, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Raghav Goyal.