Bumrah Out of Champions Trophy, Varun Joins India Squad
India has suffered a major setback ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy, with Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the tournament. ESPNcricinfo reports that Bumrah is still recovering from a back injury he sustained during the Sydney Test in January, which had already kept him out of the England white-ball series.
In another squad change, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been dropped from the provisional squad, with spinner Varun Chakravarthy taking his place.
Bumrah recently underwent scans in Bengaluru, which didn’t reveal anything serious, but he’s still not fully fit to resume bowling. There’s no official timeline for his return, though he’s expected to start running in a couple of weeks before gradually easing back into bowling. His recovery will continue under the supervision of the BCCI’s medical team.
This is the second ICC tournament Bumrah has missed due to injury, having also sat out the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia after a back problem that required surgery.
Harshit Rana Steps In
Harshit Rana, who recently made his ODI debut against England, has been named as Bumrah’s replacement. The ICC had set February 11 as the deadline for all teams to submit their final 15-member squads, with any changes after that requiring approval from the tournament’s technical committee.
Rana was initially picked as Bumrah’s backup for the England series and made an immediate impact in his debut, sharing the new ball with Mohammed Shami. Despite being taken for 26 runs in his third over by Phil Salt, Rana bounced back with three wickets, helping India secure a win.
Rana’s selection over Mohammed Siraj had raised eyebrows, given that Siraj was India’s third-most experienced pacer after Bumrah and Shami. However, captain Rohit Sharma explained in January that Siraj is at his best with the new ball, and with Bumrah’s availability uncertain, the team management felt confident in Shami leading the attack and left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh handling the death overs.
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Varun Chakravarthy In, Jaiswal Moved to Reserves
Varun Chakravarthy has officially been included in the Champions Trophy squad, while Jaiswal, along with Siraj and Shivam Dube, has been moved to the list of non-traveling reserves.
Rohit had hinted at Varun’s inclusion last week, saying the spinner brings something “different” to the attack. Since his return to India’s T20I squad, Varun has taken 31 wickets at an average of 11.25. He also made his ODI debut on Sunday, finishing with figures of 1 for 54 in Cuttack.
India’s Squad for the Champions Trophy
Final 15:
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, Varun Chakravarthy.
Non-traveling reserves:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj, Shivam Dube
