India pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the ongoing three-match T20I series against South Africa and is likely to miss the T20 World Cup 2022 due to a stress back fracture. Many cricket experts are now saying that BCCI's poor workload mangement might cost India the World Cup as Rohit Sharma's side will be without their best bowler. However, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar had predicted that Bumrah will get injured if he is not given enough rest. The ex-speedster predicted the injury a year ago on a TV show and now that Bumrah has got injured, the video has gone viral on social media.

King @shoaib100mph 's one year old analysis about Bumrah's action and back injury_. Pindi boy is always on point. pic.twitter.com/n6JnCeN89q — Usama Zafar (@Usama7) September 29, 2022

“Bumrah has a frontal action and he bowls with back and shoulder speed. With that action, when the back gives in, you can’t escape an injury no matter how much you try,” Akhtar had said a year ago on Sports Tak.

He gave examples of Ian Bishop and Shane Bond. “They both had frontal actions and struggled with injuries. Bumrah needs proper workload management. If you play him in every match, he will break down in a year’s time. Play him in three matches and give him rest for the next two. Bumrah will have to manage this one thing if he wants to last forever,” he added.

Why Bumrah got injured again?

Earlier, before the first T20I between India and South Africa at Thiruvananthapuram, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had said that Bumrah was ruled out of Wednesday's match after complaining of back pain during practice session on Tuesday.

"Jasprit Bumrah complained of back pain during India's practice session on Tuesday. The BCCI Medical Team assessed him. He is ruled out of the first T20I," BCCI had said in its statement on Twitter.

But, now a report in Insidesport says that the medical team will take a call on Bumrah's availability for the T20 World Cup, who could be out for four to six months even without the need of surgery.

"It's concerning. But we haven't had a full medical report on Jasprit yet. As soon as he complained of back pain, he was taken off practice. The medical team is monitoring him. Back injuries are tricky and we do not want to rush his return. The doctors will take a call on what will be his recovery period," a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying in the report.

Bumrah, who was out of international cricket since July this year, had missed the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE due to back injury, for which he underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

He was then declared fit for the three-match T20I series against Australia at home. In the series, he didn't play the first game at Mohali, but featured in matches at Nagpur and Hyderabad.

The report added that the same back injury which had kept Bumrah out of the Asia Cup has aggravated into a back stress fracture. "Bumrah is expected to head to London for better treatment next month. If he requires surgery, he could miss more than six months of action."

If Bumrah is indeed ruled out of the T20 World Cup, he will be the second big Indian cricketer after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (recovering from right knee surgery) to be ruled out from participating in the mega event, starting from October 16.

In case of Bumrah being absent from T20 World Cup, the senior men's national selection committee have options in Mohammad Shami or Deepak Chahar, who have been slotted in as travelling reserves for the tournament.