Will Bumrah play in the Champions Trophy?
There has been no update on Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness since he failed to bowl, reportedly due to back spasms, on the final day of the Sydney Test. It is also unclear whether Bumrah visited the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where the BCCI’s medical wing is located. So the plot continues on what injury, if any, Bumrah suffered during the Sydney Test, which forced him to take off for exams after lunch on the second day.
India will play their first Champions Trophy match on February 20 against Bangladesh in Dubai, followed by Pakistan on February 23 and New Zealand on March 2. The semi-finals will take place on March 4 and 5, followed by the final on March 9. The key question for the selectors is: If the injury is not serious, how long should Bumrah rest before he is ready for the match? Of course, if the injury is of real concern, the selectors will play it safe and not consider Bumrah for selection. It is likely that Bumrah will be named in the 15 with an asterisk next to his name, with the idea being to allow him to play at least one of the three ODIs against England to test his fitness.
Is Shami ready for ODIs?
Last week, Mohammed Shami was named in India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against England, which begins on January 22. It ends a grueling and stressful wait of almost 14 months for Shami, whose last international match was the ODI World Cup final in November. 19, 2023. Shami was the leading wicket-taker of this tournament and one of the key match-winners in India’s run to the final. Shortly afterward, he underwent ankle surgery and his ankle healed, but his return was delayed several times due to fluid buildup that caused swelling in his right knee.
Alongside Bumrah and Shami, Kuldeep Yadav played a key role as India reached the 2023 World Cup final, remaining unbeaten in the league stage. In the home Test series against England in early 2024, Kuldeep impressed again, becoming the fastest Indian to 50 Test wickets. It looked like he was getting ready to take on the role of leader of the format. However, his progress was halted by a hernia operation; he has not played any competitive cricket since the first Test against New Zealand in October. Eyebrows have been raised over the timing of this operation – over why it was not carried out soon after the T20 World Cup but so close to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It is understood that Kuldeep’s rehabilitation is going well at the NCA, but it is unclear whether he will be fit to play in the England ODIs, which he will need as a platform to establish his fitness ahead of the Trophy of Champions.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the second-highest run-scorer in international cricket across all formats in 2024: in 37 innings (23 matches), Jaiswal scored 1,771 runs at an average of 52.08. Jaiswal scored 161 runs in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, an innings which helped secure India’s only victory in the series. Bold and intelligent in his strokeplay, Jaiswal has been putting pressure on new ball players in both the longest and shortest formats, but he is yet to make his debut in ODIs. With the hugely successful alliance of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill at the top – they are one of the leading opening pairs in ODIs – does India need another opener in the 15 for the Champions Trophy? Given that the top spots belong to specialists, Jaiswal, who became the youngest man to hit a double century in List A cricket in 2019, could still be considered as a backup option.
Based on his current form and impact in the 2023 World Cup, KL Rahul is expected to be the leading keeper in the Champions Trophy. With the bat too, Rahul played an important role in the middle order during the World Cup, especially on pitches where spinners dominated, using his skills to maneuver the ball into spaces. Other contenders include Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel, who is yet to make his debut in this format.
A seaming or spin-bowling all-rounder?
Among the teams announced so far for the Champions Trophy, several teams have made their squads with versatile players. India will also likely be tempted to adopt this approach in a bid to create batting depth. One would expect two, if not all three, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel to feature in the squad. Additionally, there are several other options who can contribute a few overs with the ball while floating in the batting order: Nitish Kumar Reddy (yet to debut in ODIs), Riyan Parag, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube. Reddy and Tilak are part of the T20I series against England but Parag is still undergoing rehabilitation after undergoing shoulder surgery last year. One caveat is that the work of the latter group of players is restricted, so selectors might be wary of bloodletting them at an ICC event.
