Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah, who was all set to appear for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 match against Kerala to prove his fitness before trading in the Indian colours, did not feature in the four-day game which began on Wednesday at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.

According to a report in IANS, a BCCI functionary has confirmed that Sourav Ganguly asked the pacer to stay away from the match and focus on white-ball cricket since he has been picked in India’s squads for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka and Australia.

Bumrah has been out of action since September due to a stress fracture and was supposed to prove his fitness in the domestic game after BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) had reportedly refused to take his test.

Reportedly, Bumrah, who was seen bowling at the Team India nets in Visakhapatnam ahead of the second One Day International (ODI) between India and West Indies, was “politely” told by NCA that they would not be conducting his fitness test.

The NCA, led by director Rahul Dravid and physiotherapist Ashish Kaushik was not convinced about how they were eligible to conduct the test since the Indian pacer did not undergo the recovery program there and was instead under the supervision of his own set of specialists.

The reason given by David as reported by Times of India was, “If NCA hasn’t treated Bumrah, how can it give him a certificate that he’s fit to play? What if tomorrow something happens? How can the NCA agree to certify something about which it doesn’t have a clue?”

Ganguly had also opted to get involved and talk to his former playing partner to solve the issue. He said, “I will find out what exactly is the reason. NCA has to be the first and final point of every international cricketer.”

“From outside, and who has not seen this very closely, Bumrah has been injured for a while. I was not part of the system while he was sent. What happened? But if you ask me, NCA is a place for Indian cricketers. Everything has to go through the NCA so we will find out,” the former Indian captain said.

Though it was not clear if at all a fitness test was conducted at the NCA, reports on Tuesday had suggested that Burmah would participate in the Ranji match to prove his fitness. But with Ganguly’s intervention, the pacer looks all set to make a direct comeback in international cricket.