Jasprit fully fit, might play series against Ireland: Jay Shah

NEW DELHI: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah, on Thursday confirmed that Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is fully fit and might go for India's tour of Ireland, which will begin in August. The squad for the series is likely to be announced this week. The three T20Is will take place on August 18, 20 and 23 this year.

The pacer underwent a successful back surgery back in March and has not played competitive cricket since a T20I match at home against Australia in 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, 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.

As per the original timeline worked out by the medical staff of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, Bumrah was expected to return for this year's Asia Cup, which will start on August 30 this year. The first hint of Bumrah recovering faster than expected came last week when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a media release that he was bowling with "full intensity" in the nets.

Since the start of his rehab in April, Bumrah has incrementally built on his bowling workload. The tour of Ireland will be Bumrah's second visit to the country, with the first one coming in 2018 which saw him fracturing his thumb in the first match. This injury caused him to miss the first half of the England tour held that year.