Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of India’s Champions Trophy campaign

In what is a significant jolt to India, Jasprit Bumrah, their premier fast bowler, is set to miss the 2025 Champions Trophy. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Bumrah is yet to completely recover from the discomfort in his back, an injury he picked up during the Sydney Test in January that also ruled him out of the white-ball series against England.

While the latest scan, which Bumrah underwent in Bengaluru over the weekend, did not reveal anything untoward, it is learned he is not entirely ready to return to bowling yet. His progress will continue to be monitored by the BCCI’s medical team based at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. There is no confirmation on the timeline of his return to bowling. It is likely he will resume running in a couple of weeks and then start to bowl gradually after that.

This is the second ICC tournament Bumrah will miss due to injury, having sat out the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia due to back injury which eventually forced him to have surgery.

The ICC had set February 11 as the deadline for all eight participating teams to submit their final 15 for the Champions Trophy. Any subsequent changes would need to be approved by the tournament’s technical committee. Bumrah’s replacement is Harshit Rana, who made his ODI debut during the ongoing England series. The BCCI also named Varun Chakravarthy as a replacement for Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had originally made the cut in the provisional squad. Jaiswal, along with Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube, will be used as non-travelling substitutes, and make the trip to Dubai only as and when required.

When the BCCI announced the provisional squad for Champions Trophy and the England series in January, Rana was named as Bumrah’s back-up for the England ODIs. Rana made his ODI debut in the first ODI of the England series in Nagpur, sharing the new ball with Mohammed Shami. After an impressive start, Phil Salt thrashed Rana for 26 runs in his third over, but the Delhi seamer bounced back picking three wickets to transfer the pressure back on England, which played a key role in the eventual victory for the hosts.

Eyebrows were raised after the selection panel, led by former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar, in coordination with the Indian team think-tank comprising head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma, had decided to pick Rana ahead of the other contenders, including Siraj, for the England series. Siraj has been India’s third most senior bowler after Bumrah and Shami and was also part of their dominant run in the 2023 World Cup. However, at the media briefing in January while announcing the provisional squad for Champions Trophy and the England series, Rohit explained that Siraj’s “effectiveness comes down a little” if he was not “going to take the new ball.”

Rohit said that with the question mark hanging over Bumrah’s fitness, the decision makers collectively had confidence in Shami controlling the frontend of the innings and left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh capable of handling the death overs.

Rohit had also strongly hinted at Varun’s inclusion in the squad last week, saying that the mystery spinner “clearly had something different about him.” Varun had taken 31 wickets at 11.25 since his comeback into India’s T20I squad, and on Sunday, he finally made his ODI debut as well, taking 1 for 54 in Cuttack.

India’s squad for the Champions Trophy: 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, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy

Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube

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