Courtesy: BCCI/ICC
In the build-up to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the Indian cricket team suffered a big blow when fast bowling ace Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury. With that, the Indian team management decided to adjust their team combination, bringing in an extra spinner, and in his latest interview with ICC, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting stated that he would like to see left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh replace Jasprit Bumrah in the playing XI.
Jasprit Bumrah suffered the back injury at the worst possible time during the fifth Test of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series in Sydney, which meant that India weren’t able to draw the series and retain the coveted trophy in Australia. After being initially selected in the preliminary squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the Indian team management had hoped for him to be fit in time to be a part of the upcoming tournament, but it wasn’t quite the case.
I would go with the left-armer and I'd go with Arshdeep to replace Bumrah: Ricky Ponting
During the recent episode of The ICC Review with host Sanjana Ganesan, Ricky Ponting spoke at length about who should replace Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian playing XI for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, along with the reasoning behind it. He was quoted as saying, “I would go with the left-armer and I'd go with Arshdeep (to replace Bumrah).”
Ponting stated that Arshdeep has been exceptional at the T20 level with his unique skill set, which is closest to anything India would get when compared to Jasprit Bumrah. He remarked, “We know how good he's been in T20 cricket and if you think about the skill set, he probably provides a similar skill set to what Bumrah does with new ball and death overs and that's what India will miss.”
The Australian cricketing legend also stated that while Harshit Rana has what it takes, Arshdeep Singh has more to give to the Indian cricket team in the upcoming Champions Trophy.
