 "Jasprit Bumrah had initially been named in India's squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy on 18 January despite his back injury. Reuters")
Team India’s hopes of winning a second ICC event in as many years were dealt a massive blow on Tuesday after senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to a back injury that he had suffered during the tour of Australia recently .
The BCCI named young pacer Harshit Rana, who got his international career off to an impressive start in all three formats in the last two-and-a-half months, as Bumrah’s replacement in the 15-man squad that been unveiled on 18 January.
In Bumrah’s absence, senior pacer Mohammed Shami is expected to lead the attack with one of Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana picked in the XI as the second front-line pacer. The availability of seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya does not necessitate the presence of a third front-line quick, allowing India to pick three spinners, including all-rounders.
Also included in the squad is wrist spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been in red-hot form in T20Is recently and had made his ODI debut against England in Cuttack on Sunday. Chakravarthy had returned to the Indian team during the T20I series against Bangladesh in October and has been in prolific wicket-taking form since then, including in the four-match series in South Africa in November.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsChakravarthy replaces opening batter Jaiswal, who has been relegated to the non-traveling substitutes alongside Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. Jaiswal had made his ODI debut against England in Nagpur on Thursday, but was dismissed for 15.
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In his absence, skipper Rohit Sharma will be opening alongside the in-form vice-captain Shubman Gill, who has struck back-to-back fifties in the ongoing one-day series against England and had stitched together a 136-run opening stand in Cuttack, laying the foundation for India’s successful chase of the 305-run target .
Team India have also opted to retain KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the two wicket-keepers in the squad, meaning Sanju Samson will have to wait for some more time before making his maiden appearance in an ICC event. The Men in Blue are likely to persist with Rahul as their wicket-keeper with the 32-year-old having previously shouldered the responsibility during the 2023 ICC World Cup.
Tuesday, 11 February was the deadline set by the ICC for teams participating in the upcoming Champions Trophy to make changes to their squads.
India squad for the ICC 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, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. The three players will travel to Dubai as and when required.