Jasprit Bumrah, India’s premier fast bowler, has been officially ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 due to a lower back injury.
Bumrah, despite being named in the provisional squad, failed to make the cut, leading to the BCCI announcing Harshit Rana as Bumrah’s replacement.
The eight-nation tournament will begin on February 19 in Karachi, with host Pakistan facing New Zealand in the opening match.
Earlier, Bumrah was named in India’s 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy despite concerns over his recovery from an injury sustained during the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
ALSO READ: Varun Chakaravarthy named in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad, Yashasvi Jaiswal misses out
Bumrah, who was at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, underwent several scans. India’s ODI and Test captain, Rohit Sharma, had stated that the team management was awaiting the scan results for better clarity regarding his knee injury.
“We are waiting for some updates on his scan, which are due over the next few days. Once we receive the scan report, we will have more clarity on where he stands right now and whether he will be available for the last ODI,” Rohit had said ahead of the India versus England ODI series.
Bumrah’s absence will be a significant setback for India. The right-arm pacer was in exceptional form during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, taking 32 wickets across five matches at an average of 13.06 to earn the Player of the Series award.
Bumrah carried a heavy workload in Australia, bowling 151.2 overs — the most by any Indian bowler in the series — including more than 50 overs in the fourth Test in Melbourne.
He was also instrumental in India’s success at the 2024 T20 World Cup, where he was named Player of the Series after taking 15 wickets at a remarkable average of 8.26 and an economy rate of 4.17.
India has also named Varun Chakaravarthy in the squad. The spinner will replace Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was initially named in the provisional squad.
India will play all its matches in Dubai. Pakistan is the defending champion of this 50-over tournament, having won the title in 2017 after beating India in the final.
Final India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill (vc), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.
