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Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said Bumrah has been advised five weeks off the bowling load in his recovery.
Jasprit Bumrah (Screengrab)
Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah will undergo fresh scans for his back injury on February 2, according to a report in The Times of India. The report comes after chief selector Ajit Agarkar on Saturday announced that the pacer would be in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy squad, subject to him recovering fully.
Bumrah suffered a back spasm in the final Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which kept him from bowling in the last innings there. A lot of speculation followed about his possible comeback. It included a report where he was said to be on bed rest, which the pacer rubbished as false and laughable.
Agarkar painted a clearer picture on Saturday, saying: “We have been waiting to hear back from the physios. From what we know so far, he was asked to offload bowling for five weeks, so we are probably looking at mid-February. We’ll find out in time. I don’t want to give any wrong updates and I am sure the BCCI will put something out soon. We have just been told a timeframe. We are very hopeful.”
Agarkar also said that India are not expecting Bumrah to be available for the three ODIs against England before the Champions Trophy. So, for that team, India has gone with the services of pace all-rounder Harshit Rana, who was also part of India’s BGT squad and played the first two Tests.
India boosted by Mohammed Shami’s return amid Bumrah worries
One big concern has come hand-in-hand with another big boost for India. Though Bumrah is not certain to be available for the Champions Trophy, Mohammed Shami, the star performer of the 2023 World Cup, is back.
Shami will be joined by left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh in the ODI team, while Mohammed Siraj has been dropped. Skipper Rohit Sharma in the press conference said Siraj’s ineffectiveness without the new ball got him the axe.
India have picked five spin options, which can be particularly helpful in the UAE’s sluggish conditions.
India’s Squad For Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Ravindra Jadeja
