On February 11, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed what many fans in India had feared. Frontline pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The press release did not give a detailed update on Bumrah but stated that lower back injury has prevented him from boarding the flight to Dubai where India will play all their matches. However, a report has claimed that Bumrah was declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru, where he completed his rehabilitation under strength & conditioning trainer Rajnikanth and physio Thulasi but the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee decided not to risk aggravating the injury by picking him in the squad.
"The report sent by NCA head Nitin Patel clearly states that while he has completed his rehabilitation and scan reports seemed to be okay, it couldn't be concluded whether he would be bowling fit by the time the tournament starts. Hence the selectors didn't take any risk," a top BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"Nitin left the ball in Ajit's (chief selector Agarkar) court and hence no one would want to stick their necks out and take the risk of putting an unfit player in squad. If medical team doesn't green-light fully, how can the selection committee take that risk," the official added.
Agarkar did not want history to repeat itself
During the meeting between Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma ahead of third ODI against England at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, it was decided that the wise decision will be to not rush Bumrah back into action. Hence, they decided to go with Harshit Rana who made his ODI debut in the ongoing series and has bagged four wickets already.
"The stakes are too high and it would have been a complete embarrassment had Bumrah broken down in a match. The NCA led by Nitin Patel had once burnt their hands in 2022 when they pushed Bumrah for the bilateral series against Australia before the T20 World Cup, and he broke down to be out for one year. That was Chetan Sharma's committee and so Agarkar didn't want to take a chance," the official further explained.
When will Bumrah return to action?
Bumrah is likely to return to action in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He was retained for Rs 18 crore by the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI). It will be followed by India's tour of England where they will play a five-Test series and kick off their World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 campaign.
