India‘s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury, the BCCI confirmed on Tuesday. The senior men’s team selection committee has named Harshit Rana as Bumrah’s replacement for the mega event starting February 19 in Pakistan.
The development is a major setback for India going into the Champions Trophy, which they have won twice in 2002 and 2013. Bumrah’s performances across formats since returning from his previous lengthy absence from back injury led to him being widely accepted as the best bowler in the world across formats. The 31-year-old was player of the tournament in India’s succesfull 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, taking 15 wickets at a ridiculous average of 8.26.
The selectors have also included Varun Chakaravarthy in the team. The ‘mystery’ spinner will replace Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was initially named in the provisional squad.
India will play all their matches of the tournament in Dubai under a hybrid model agreement.
Team: 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.