Team India has suffered a major setback before the Champions Trophy starting on February 19. Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the team, as he is still not fully recovered from his back problem. He suffered this injury during the Sydney Test in January, due to which he was also ruled out of the white ball series against England. Harshit Rana has got entry in the team in his place. At the same time, Varun Chakraborty has been included in the team in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Team India will take the field without Bumrah in the Champions Trophy. No serious problem was found in Bumrah’s back during the recent scan in Bengaluru, but he is not fully ready to bowl yet. His recovery is being monitored by the BCCI medical team. Jasprit Bumrah is once again out of the ICC tournament due to injury. He also missed the T20 World Cup played in Australia in 2022 due to a back injury, after which he had to undergo surgery.
The BCCI has kept Mohammad Siraj, Shivam Dubey and Yashasvi Jaiswal as reserves. BCCI submits final squad list to ICC All eight teams for the Champions Trophy had to submit the final squad list by Tuesday i.e. February 11. The BCCI also submitted the list of 15-member squad to the ICC with two changes in its final squad. In this, Jasprit Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been shown the way out while Harshit Rana and Varun Chakraborty have been included in the team.
Bumrah’s name was included in India’s 15-member preliminary team announced last month for the Champions Trophy, but he could not play in the ODI series against England, which is India’s last series before the Champions Trophy starting on February 19. Bumrah was injured during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney and has not been able to play any match since then. He did not get a place in the final team due to a back injury.
Rana replaces Bumrah & Varun replaces Yashasvi
The ICC had given all the eight participating teams a deadline of February 11 to announce their final 15-man squad. After this, any changes will have to be approved by the technical committee of the tournament. Harshit Rana has been included in the team in place of Bumrah, he recently made his ODI debut against England. On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been dropped from the 15-man squad. Varun Chakraborty has been included in the team in his place.
Harshit Rana and Varun Chakraborty got a chance to debut
Harshit Rana and Varun Chakraborty got a chance to debut in ODIs in the first two matches of the ongoing three-match ODI series against England. Rana made his debut in the first ODI played in Nagpur and has played both the matches of the series so far and has also impressed in the middle overs. On the other hand, India also gave a chance to debut to spinner Varun Chakraborty, who was successful in impressing in the five-match T20 series against England.
India is included in Group A in the Champions Trophy which also includes Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. India will play all its matches in Dubai under the hybrid model as it refused to go to Pakistan for this tournament. There will be 15 matches in this tournament of eight teams. This tournament will last for 19 days. The league match between India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy will be played on 23 February (Sunday).
Updated Indian Team Squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, and Varun Chakraborty.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dubey.
Now Team India relies on spin, 5 spinners included in the team
Believe it or not, but one thing is now known that due to Jasprit Bumrah’s absence for Champions Trophy 2025, the bowling of the Indian team has become weak. Especially the fast bowling looks very weak. This is the reason why the Indian team management, captain, coach and selectors have expressed confidence in spinners to win ICC events consistently. Two changes were seen in the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup 2024 late on Tuesday night, February 11. A pacer came in place of a pacer, but a spinner was included in the team in place of an opener.
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Even before Varun Chakraborty, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar were included in the Indian team. Three of them may be proper all-rounders, but Jadeja, Axar and Washington bowl proper 10 overs in an ODI match. At the same time, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana are with Mohammed Shami in fast bowling. Hardik Pandya is also in the team as a pace all-rounder. In such a situation, Indian team is now left with only 6 batsmen, out of which you have to keep five in the playing eleven. Now it remains to be seen what kind of combination India will play.
Why so much trust on spinners?
Why does Team India have a different thinking from other teams? In this Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan and Dubai, Team India’s matches are to be held in Dubai. Spinners do get help in Dubai, but they do not prove to be so effective. Maybe India wants to take advantage of a little help and that is why India is looking at Varun Chakravarthy as a wicket-taking option. However, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are unlikely to play together, as you would also want to keep Akshar and Jadeja in the team from a batting point of view.