Jasprit Bumrah has had quite a few brushes with back troubles and the Indian pace superstar lent a helping hand to Australia all-rounder Cameron Green in his battle with the ailment. Green, 26, is returning to international cricket with the World Test Championship final against South Africa after a lengthy spell on the sidelines that saw him miss the home summer and the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is recovering a back surgery that he underwent in October.
Green said that he took the opinions of a few players before opting for the surgery, which was for a stress facture that would’ve healed naturally over nine months to a year. “I spoke to Ben Dwarshuis, and Jason Behrendorff, who I’m very close to in WA,” Green said on 7News. “And they couldn’t speak any higher about getting it.”
Green said that Bumrah reached out to him the night before the surgery. The latter was at the time playing a Test match against New Zealand in .
“Even reached out the night before I was getting surgery. He was in the middle of a Test match in India. Just a few things like that is really special,” said Green.
“To get someone like him to reach out and then to watch him during the summer, to see how good he is obviously post-surgery, filled me with a lot of confidence,” Green said. “At the two-week mark after surgery, I was in the gym moving around. It was incredible.”
The recovery has all but ruled him out as a bowler for Australia in the WTC Final but Green has been in prolific form with the bat in the County circuit in England playing for Gloucestershire.
He has scored two centuries, one of which was unbeaten, and an unbeaten half-century in his last two matches. This has led to him being considered as a serious option as a pure batter at No.3 for Australia in the WTC Final and Green said he is happy to take up the role.
“I felt like my game’s always been good around those periods. I’m always going to keep bowling, but you’re so much more relaxed [with] half a game to worry about. When you’re bowling and batting, there’s so much more you have to do bowling-wise to keep yourself fit and ready to play. It does take away from batting. So, certainly, just batting is nice,” he said.
