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On Tuesday, February 11, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s 15-member squad for the highly-anticipated ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025. With doubts revolving around Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s availability, the BCCI finally put all to rest as Bumrah was confirmed to miss out on the upcoming tournament due to the back injury which he sustained during the Sydney Test in BGT 2024-25.
However, the men’s selection committee named pacer Harshit Rana as his replacement for the mega tournament, the squad also saw the inclusion of spin sensation Varun Chakravarthy. Apart from this, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube were named as non-travelling reserves for the marquee tournament.
Why was Jasprit Bumrah left out of India’s squad for CT 2025?
Jasprit Bumrah’s omission grabbed several eyeballs after BCCI’s announcement, with a few left speculating of his injury despite undergoing rehabilitation. According to a BCCI source, "Bumrah was asked to off-load for five weeks after which his rehabilitation at NCA happened under strength & conditioning trainer Rajnikanth and physio Thulasi.”
The top source also informed that he successfully underwent his rehabilitation, along with his reports coming out okay. "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 that whether he would be bowling fit by the time the tournament starts. Hence the selectors didn't take any risk," the source told PTI, as quoted by NDTV Sports.
He further informed, "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.”
India’s squad for ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube.
