India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will not need surgery for a stress fracture and could return to the national team for the New Zealand series, according to media reports.

Bumrah suffered a lower back injury during the second Test against West Indies in September has been in England to decide the further course of action after being diagnosed with a stress fracture. However, experts have now ruled out surgery as the injury has healed well and the bowler has started doing light exercises.

“He is on auto-heal mode and the back is recovering well. He has already started running and doing some light warm-up exercises. He will be assessed post Diwali under the watchful eyes of Nitin. Things have progressed well, just as it had in case of his previous stress fracture which also healed naturally,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by IANS.

With surgery ruled out, Bumrah should be back in action sooner as the recovery time following a surgery is lot more. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who recently underwent a surgery, has been ruled out for almost four months.

Former BCCI physio Vaibhav Daga explained the difference when he told Hindustan Times, “With conservative management [of stress fracture], it usually takes 14 to 16 weeks for the bowler to start bowling again, depending on clinical symptoms.”

Even India bowling coach Bharat Arun confirmed the same to The Hindu and said he expected the bowler to return soon. “Fast bowling is an unnatural activity. Despite our best efforts, there can be no guarantees. We expect Bumrah to be back sooner than later, hopefully in time for the New Zealand Test series that is our next big challenge. As of now, he doesn’t need surgery.”