India's fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who took charge in the fifth and final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Sydney after regular captain Rohit Sharma decided to sit out, finally spoke up about his back injury on Sunday. He expressed his disappointment about missing the chance to bowl on what he called the "spiciest wicket" against Australia in the last innings. This came right after he was named Player of the Series for being the top wicket-taker with 32 dismissals.

"You have to listen to your body; you can't just push through it. It's disappointing because I probably missed out on the best wicket of the series," the 31-year-old said during the post-match presentation, following Australia's six-wicket victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which allowed them to reclaim the trophy after a decade.

When asked when he first noticed the injury, Bumrah replied, “I felt a bit of discomfort during my second spell in the first innings.”

Bumrah, who captained the Indian team for the second time in this match and the third time in his Test career, got hurt on day 2 of the fifth Test and was quickly taken to the hospital for a scan. His teammate Prasidh Krishna shared with reporters on Saturday that Bumrah was dealing with back spasms.

On Sunday, despite his injury, Bumrah came out to bat after missing the warm-up on Day 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but unfortunately, he was out for a three-ball duck. He didn’t take the field while Australia chased down the target of 162.

With Bumrah sidelined, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expressed concerns that the injury might be a cover-up, especially since there were rumors that Bumrah went to the hospital for an injection, given that a scanning machine was available for the Indian team at the SCG.

Bumrah had previously faced a lower back injury that kept him off the field for almost a year between 2022 and 2023, and he had surgery on his back in March 2023.

India loses the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series

Australia wrapped up India's innings in just 45 minutes, bowling them out for 157. The visitors could only add 16 runs to their overnight score, losing four wickets in the process, with Scott Boland shining brightly, finishing with figures of 6-45 and a total of 10 wickets in the match.

Without Bumrah, India, under Virat Kohli's captaincy, showed a flicker of hope when Prasidh Krishna took three quick wickets, including the near-miss of Steve Smith, who fell just one run short of becoming the 15th player and fourth Australian to hit 10,000 Test runs.

However, Usman Khawaja played a steady innings, scoring 41, while Travis Head (34 not out) and debutant Beau Webster (39 not out) guided Australia to victory.

This win means Australia will defend their World Test Championship title in the final at Lord's against South Africa in June.

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