Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury, dealing a major blow to India ahead of the tournament. In his place, fast bowler Harshit Rana has been called up, while spinner Varun Chakravarthy has also been included in the squad.
Bumrah sustained a back injury during the final Test of India’s tour of Australia and has not played since. Despite concerns over his fitness, he was named in India’s preliminary 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy last month. Initially, there were plans to assess his fitness during the final ODI against England, but he was ruled out of that match as well.
Reports from Indian media suggested that Bumrah might miss the group stage of the Champions Trophy, with a possibility of returning for the later stages. However, on Tuesday night, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed in an official statement that the 31-year-old pacer will miss the entire tournament.
Tuesday was also the deadline for all eight participating teams to submit their final squads. Any changes to the squad after this point would require approval from the tournament’s technical committee.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Bumrah underwent a recent scan at the BCCI’s Center of Excellence in Bengaluru, which did not reveal any major issues. However, he is still not fully prepared to resume bowling. The BCCI medical team will continue to monitor his progress, but no specific timeline has been set for his return. It is expected that he will start running in the coming weeks before gradually resuming bowling.
This marks the second ICC tournament Bumrah will miss due to injury. In 2022, he was also ruled out of the T20 World Cup in Australia due to a back injury, which required surgery and kept him sidelined for nearly 11 months.
Harshit Rana, who was initially included as a backup pacer for the England ODI series, has now secured a place in the Champions Trophy squad. The young fast bowler made his ODI debut in the first match against England and picked up four wickets in two games.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old spinner Varun Chakravarthy has replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad. Jaiswal made his ODI debut against England but was dismissed for just 15 runs. After recovering from a knee injury, Virat Kohli returned for the second ODI, pushing Jaiswal out of the playing XI. Now, he has also lost his spot in the Champions Trophy squad.
However, Jaiswal has been retained as a “non-traveling reserve” alongside Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. They will be called up to Dubai if needed during the tournament.
Varun Chakravarthy made his ODI debut in the second match of the England series, taking one wicket for 54 runs. The spinner has been in excellent form since his return to the T20I squad last year. He also impressed in India’s domestic 50-over competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, picking up 19 and 18 wickets in the last two editions.
Bumrah’s absence is a relief for Bangladesh, as their Champions Trophy campaign begins against India on February 20 in Dubai.
India’s Champions Trophy Squad:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy.
