The BCCI's decision to withdraw Team India superstar Jasprit Bumrah from the ODI series against Sri Lanka sparked a meme fest on social media.

Several admirers of the Men in Blue welcomed the development regarding Jasprit Bumrah by posting memes and hilarious jokes on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MahiRaina73/status/1612687538812252160

https://twitter.com/Viratxians/status/1612366719724711939

https://twitter.com/nothingtosayyar/status/1612427069631389699

 

The Ahmedabad-born bowler's mockery on the social media platform came after the India cricket board made a stunning U-turn to withdraw him from the ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Jasprit Bumrah wasn't originally part of the national squad for the One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka but was later on added to the side on the suggestions of the selection committee.

“Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Bumrah, who was set to join the team in Guwahati ahead of the ODI series, will need some more time to build bowling resilience. This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has not named any replacement for Jasprit Bumrah,” the BCCI stated in a press release on Monday.

The news of Jasprit Bumrah's pullout from the Sri Lanka series came just 24 hours before its commencement in Guwahati and left the admirers of the national side in shock.

Questioning his commitment to the Team India jersey, many accused him of not being loyal to the national flag before adding that he's only focused on his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with the Mumbai Indians.

Jasprit Bumrah’s last appearance for the Indian cricket team was against Australia during a home T20I series in September last year. Subsequently, a stress fracture in the back denied him the opportunity to participate in the T20 World Cup. In his absence, the Rohit Sharma-led Team India exited the event in the semifinals, losing to eventual champions by 10 wickets.

Widely regarded as the best all-format bowler in the world, his absence is considered to be a massive setback to the Men in Blue’s fast bowling department.

The 29-year-old would have provided skipper Rohit Sharma a genuine wicket-taking option both up front and in the death overs, considering Jasprit Bumrah’s unique action allows him to exert extra bounce from the pitch with the new ball besides having the ability to bamboozle batters with his toe-breaking yorkers at the end.

However, this isn’t the first time Jasprit Bumrah received flak online.

Last year, weeks before the T20 World Cup in Australia, the Ahmedabad-born speedster was ruled out of the elite competition Down Under, leading to scathing criticism from Team India supporters.

While some made fun of the Mumbai Indians bowler for missing out on the biggest T20 international tournament, others claimed that if it was the Indian Premier League (IPL), he would have managed to get himself fit anyhow.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma came out in defense of the under-fire pacer, claiming that the 29-year-old has been working extremely hard on his fitness at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. But the management can't rush him because it has been witnessed in the past that it could prove detrimental to his career.

In 2022, weeks ahead of the T20 World Cup, the BCCI rushed him to compete in a couple of T20Is ahead of the World Cup in Australia and the result didn't turn out to be good for the national team as his injury relapsed. He was eventually not named in the side that flew Down Under.

“It's an unfortunate incident with him [Bumrah],” Rohit Sharma told reporters ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati. “The poor guy had been working very hard at the NCA all this time. Just when he got back to full fitness, he started bowling and everything, the last two days I think this incident happened where he felt a little bit of stiffness in his back. It's nothing major, it's just stiffness. [But] when Bumrah says anything we have to be very cautious about it. I thought it was important for us to make that decision then, to just pull him out. When we named him [in the squad], he was in the process of getting his workload done. We need to be very careful with him. He had a major injury before the [T20] World Cup. So we just need to be careful.”

Meanwhile, former India speedster Irfan Pathan doubted if Jasprit Bumrah could ever make a successful comeback to the national team.

“Look I'm very sceptical about Jasprit Bumrah's comeback, I'm hoping that he will not have an injury effect on his bowling. But I really hope that he is fully fit, more than 100 per cent fit, which is what I want to look at because a player like Bumrah, is very important to the Indian team,” Irfan Pathan told Star Sports.

“For him to play consistently and remain fit is of utmost importance because to find a player of his quality is very rare, so to manage him and for him to manage his body and to keep his fitness levels on top as well as to keep his mind on recovering from his stress injury and go under rehabilitation, and to continue to grow and move forward as a cricketer is of vital importance not only to Bumrah but for the team management as well,” he concluded.