Sourav Ganguly keeps protocol aside, asks Jasprit Bumrah to skip Ranji game

Surat, Dec 25: Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was supposed to prove his fitness during the Ranji Trophy match between Gujarat and Kerala, did not feature in the game which began at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium on Wednesday.

Bumrah, who has been out of action post India's tour of West Indies in July-August due to a stress fracture on his back, was expected to mark his return in the Elite Group A game of the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

However, reports emerged that Bumrah was asked by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to stay away from Gujarat's game and a BCCI functionary confirmed to IANS that the pacer was indeed asked to skip the Ranji match and focus on white-ball cricket.

On Monday, the right-arm pacer was included in both the T20I and ODI squads for Sri Lanka and Australia respectively.

While speculation was rife that he might have to wait till the Australia series for a comeback, the national selectors decided to bring him in for the Lanka series.

Bumrah had trained with the Indian team at the nets during their practice session ahead of the second ODI of the recently-concluded three match series against the West Indies in Visakhapatnam. The trainer and physio gave him the green signal and he was given the go-ahead to join the team.

As reported by IANS, the Indian team management had called Bumrah to Vizag to assess the pacer's recovery after undergoing rehabilitation for the stress fracture. While his body was on auto-heal mode, he still went to the UK for consultations as the BCCI didn't want to take any chance with the pacer's back.

India are scheduled to play three T20Is against Sri Lanka beginning January 5 and three ODIs against Australia from January 14 to 19. After that, the team will travel to New Zealand where they will play five T20Is, three ODIs and two Test matches.