MUMBAI: This could be a major, major setback for India, if it comes true. TOI has learnt that ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is in danger of missing the entire Champions Trophy next month due to a back injury.
Bumrah, who has swelling on his back, will soon report to the BCCI‘s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru where his recovery will be monitored. It is learnt that he could be out of the game for a considerable period of time due to the injury.
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The Champions Trophy, which will have the world’s top eight ODI teams, begins on February 19, with India playing their league matches in Dubai.
The national selectors, who met in Mumbai on Saturday, rested Bumrah from the T20I series at home against England later this month. “The selectors are yet to get the entire medical report about Bumrah, but at the moment, things don’t look good for him.”
It remains to be seen if the selectors name Bumrah in the squad of 15 or in the reserves for the Champions Trophy, but even if they do that, it will be more out of hope than anything else. The deadline to announce the squad for the Champions Trophy is Sunday midnight.
It has been reported that the BCCI has sought an extension of the deadline, but TOI can confirm that at the point of writing this report, the BCCI has not requested the International Cricket Council to increase the deadline.
In the recently concluded five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, Bumrah delivered a stellar performance, claiming 32 wickets in 151.2 overs at an extraordinary average of 13.06 and an impressive strike rate of 28.3. He was named as the ‘Player of the Series’. However, he couldn’t bowl on the final day of the series in the fifth and final Test at Sydney because of his back injury, as Australia successfully chased down 162 and won the series 3-1.
In the past, Bumrah has had to endure a long layoff from the game-he was on the sidelines for almost an year from September 2022 to August 2023 due to a back injury which required surgery, before making a comeback in a T20I against Ireland in Ireland.
Agarkar in talks with Rohit, Kohli
According to sources, chief selector Ajit Agarkar has had discussions with skipper Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli about their “future plans.” Both the batters have been in poor form since the last two series. While Kohli scored 190 runs in five Tests@23.75, Rohit, who opted out of the final Test, managed to score just 31 runs in three Tests@6.20.
‘Idea was to give rest to almost entire India Test squad’
Explaining why the likes of Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were missing from India’s T20I team for the home five-match series against England, which was announced on Saturday, a source in the BCCI said, “If you notice, apart from Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy, all the other players who took part in the gruelling BGT series in Australia recently have been given a break, so that they are fresh for the ODI series against England and then the Champions Trophy.”
