Australian all-rounder Cameron Green has revealed a special message he received from Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah last year that helped lift his spirits ahead of back surgery. The night before going under the knife, Green received an unexpected message from his former Mumbai Indians teammate, who was checking in on him. Notably, Bumrah reached out while he was in the middle of a home Test match against New Zealand.
Bumrah has faced his own struggles with back injuries and had undergone the same surgery as Green just 18 months earlier. The Indian pacer’s fitness issues resurfaced during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, which ruled him out of action for a few months.
Cameron Green on Jasprit Bumrah’s special message:
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Green said that the message from Bumrah made him realise that he was “doing the right thing” by getting the surgery done.
“That is really special. And makes you feel a lot better about it. I didn’t play with him in Mumbai but that was the connection through there. Spent a bit of time with him there. 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,” the 26 year old stated.
“The silver lining to having four back injuries is I’ve got four chances only to be a batter. I felt like my game’s always been good around those periods. So, that’s never to take away, I’m always going to be keep bowling. But you’re so much more relaxed. Half a game to worry about, which is obviously nice. 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 further added.
Green is all set to make a comeback in the Australian playing XI at the number 3 spot for the Word Test Championship Final against South Aftica. He will, however, only be playing as a top order batter and is unlikely to bowl in the near future.
