Follow UsIndia’s ace paceman Jasprit Bumrah has been out of action for more than two months since injuring his back during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah is not part of India’s squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and now there have been some reports suggesting that he could also miss the first few games for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Bumrah is expected to be fit by the first week of April but could miss the March games against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gujarat Titans (GT) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Apart from Bumrah, Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar are the only other two seamers who look like certain starters in Mumbai’s playing XI.
Here, we look at three bowlers from the MI squad who can replace Bumrah in the first few games.
Thanks to an outstanding Indian core in the batting department, MI can easily play two overseas seamers alongside Mitchell Santner, and that’s where someone like Lizaad Williams can come into play. The right-arm fast bowler, who has played all three formats for South Africa, has taken over 40 percent of his total T20 wickets in death overs, and that’s exactly what MI need.
In Bumrah’s absence, Mumbai need someone who can bowl in the last few overs, and that’s what Williams can do, of course, not at the same level. In T20s since 2024, Williams has 18 wickets in death overs at an economy of less than 10. The only concern is Williams has been out of action for almost six months due to a knee injury and could prove to be rusty against quality batters.
There’s still question marks over Reece Topley’s availability, and that could bring Andhra’s Satyanarayana Raju into the picture. Last year, the 25-year-old fast bowler made his debut for the state side in all three formats.
He also had an impressive Andhra Premier League (APL) 2024, taking eight wickets in seven games at an economy of 6.15.
Considering MI are playing their first match in Chennai, and if they feel they don’t have enough quality in the pace department, the five-time champions could strengthen their spin unit by playing both overseas spinners Santner and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
The Afghanistan spinner had a pretty good SA20 for Paarl Royals, taking 14 wickets at an economy of just 6.77. Mujeeb is an experienced campaigner and could give MI a defensive option in multiple phases of the innings.
(Satyanarayana Raju image credit - PTI)