Bumrah has a lower back injury suffered during the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney last month and has been out of action since.
India’s prospects at the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy got a major jolt with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the tournament on Tuesday. Bumrah has a lower back injury suffered during the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney last month and has been out of action since. The national selectors have included pacer Harshit Rana as his replacement in the 15-member squad.
In another selectorial call, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, enjoying a purple patch in white-ball cricket, has been included at the expense of opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal. The left-hander is one of the non-travelling substitutes, along with pacer Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Shivam Dube. Shreyas Iyer, who played the first ODI against England only because Virat Kohli was injured and Jaiswal had to be tried at the top of the order, now finds himself in the 15 with the opener omitted.
The Champions Trophy begins on February 19 in Pakistan, but India’s games will be played in Dubai. They will face Bangladesh on February 20, Pakistan on February 23 and New Zealand on March 3.
🚨 NEWS 🚨
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury. Harshit Rana named replacement.
Other squad updates 🔽 #TeamIndia | #ChampionsTrophy https://t.co/RML5I79gKL
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 11, 2025
The Indian Express had earlier reported that Bumrah’s availability was anyway unlikely for the group stages of the Champions Trophy and if he indeed played any part in the competition, it would be in the semifinal or final, if India make it. The semi-finals are on March 4 and 5 with the final on March 9.
India refused to travel to Pakistan citing security concerns which forced the ICC to adopt a hybrid model for the tournament.
The national selectors were kept updated about Bumrah’s injury status and they were hopeful that he would be fit before the start of the tournament. He had even been picked for the ongoing three-match ODI series against England at home with the hope that the pacer could play the third game in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, but he is yet to recover from his injury.
Senior selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar had earlier stated that Bumrah had to off-load for five weeks and wasn’t available for the first two ODIs against England as he hasn’t begun to bowl yet.
A day before the last date for teams to make changes to their preliminary Champions League squad, the selection panel met virtually on Tuesday.
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Bumrah has had back issues earlier and missed nearly 11 months of cricket — from September 2022 to August 2023 — after undergoing surgery. He made a comeback in a T20I against Ireland. The selectors and team management have been careful not to over-burden the leader of their pace attack. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, Bumrah bowled 151.2 overs in five Test matches with an average of 13.06 and a strike rate of 28.3, and was often the only bowler to have any impact on the home team. He also was the stand-in captain for the first Test in Perth after Rohit Sharma skipped the match for the birth of his second child. He also captained the side for the final Test in Sydney when Rohit decided to sit out because of poor batting form.
India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non Travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube.
