India Confirms CT Roster with Bumrah Absent Due to a Back Injury 

Tuesday, February 11, was the deadline for announcing the rosters for the participating teams in the Champions Trophy 2025. India has been forced to drop top fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah from the initial squad as he has not recovered from back discomfort. Harshit Rana is expected to replace the player.

Bumrah News 

Bumrah recently underwent a back scan. Though it did not reveal any problems, the medics realized the player would not recover fully in time for the competition. Jasprit suffered a back injury during January’s Test against Australia and has not played a match since then, including the white-ball series against England.

Bumrah’s recovery is expected to take a few weeks, after which he can return to cricket. BCCI medics will oversee the process. It may be recalled that the player had missed the 2022 T20 World Cup due to back issues. He required surgical intervention then. 

Harshit Rana will be the Substitute

In place of Jasprit Bumrah, youngster Harshit Rana will play in the CT. He was recently included in the ODI clash against England, his debut in this format. Rana has performed well in this encounter. But some fans and experts still wondered why the selection panel, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and captain Rohit Sharma opted for Harshit. Some journalists noted that Mohammed Siraj, who helped the team perform well at the 2023 World Cup, could have been included in the roster. However, commenting on Siraj not being included in the ODI series and CT 2025 line-up, Rohit said the point was that Mohammed’s “effectiveness comes down a little” if he was not “going to take the new ball.” 

Choice in favor of Chakravarthy 

Apart from Bumrah, there has been one more change in India’s roster. The BCCI has announced the addition of Varun Chakravarthy to the roster. He replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was initially among the announced players. While talking to reporters last week, Rohit had already hinted that Varun might attend the Dubai tournament. It should be noted that he made his debut in the ODI format on Sunday, in the second match against England.

Thus, India’s roster for CT 2025 is as follows: 

• Rohit Sharma (C);
• Shubman Gill (VC);
• Virat Kohli;
• Shreyas Iyer;
• KL Rahul (WK);
• Rishabh Pant (WK);
• Varun Chakravarthy;
• Hardik Pandya;
• Mohammed Shami;
• Harshit Rana;
• Ravindra Jadeja;
• Axar Patel;
• Kuldeep Yadav;
• Washington Sundar;
• Arshdeep Singh. 

Non-travelling substitutes: 

• Yashasvi Jaiswal;
• Mohammed Siraj;
• Shivam Dube. 

India will play its first match on February 20 against Bangladesh.