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India's Chances Of Winning Champions Trophy Will Reduce By 30-35% If Bumrah Isn't Available: Ravi Shastri
Follow UsThe ace paceman was earlier named in India’s squad for the third ODI against England but will now also miss the game
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri doesn’t want India to rush Jasprit Bumrah back into action ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy, starting on February 19. The ace paceman, who is currently recovering from a back injury, was earlier named in India’s squad for the third ODI against England on February 12 but will now also miss the last fixture before the 50-over event.
There’s still no update on whether Bumrah will be available for the Champions Trophy or not. “I think it's high risk. There's too much big cricket coming up for India,” he said on The ICC Review.
“And at this stage of his (Bumrah’s) career, I think he's too precious to be just called on for one game out of the blue and asked to deliver.
“The expectations will be so much. They'll think that he'll come in straight away and set the world on fire. It's never that easy when you come back from injury.”
Bumrah is one of three specialist pacers in India’s Champions Trophy squad, with Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh being the other two. If Bumrah fails to recover on time, Shastri feels India’s chances of winning the tournament will go down by 30-35 percent.
“Bumrah not fit will reduce India's chances (of winning the Champions Trophy) by 30%, literally by 30-35%,” Shastri said.
“With a fully fit Bumrah playing, you are guaranteed of those death overs. It would’ve been a different ball game altogether.”
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting also feels the same, and said the onus will now be on Mohammed Shami, who is also making his return from a long injury.
The right-arm seamer recently featured in two of the five T20Is against England and is also part of the ODI squad for the three-match series.
“My biggest concern about India when they came for Australia in the Test series was Bumrah not having Shami there as a backup and him having to burden most of the load,” said Ponting.
“And that's probably what happened, and might even have something to do with why he (Bumrah) got hurt. He probably ended up having to bowl a bit more in that series with Shami not being there.
“So look, if Shami’s fit, that’s a positive.”
Meanwhile, Shastri added: “It will be interesting to see if India play him out in all three, or they give him the first one and the third one, and then ease him into the Champions Trophy.
“But he'll be watched very closely because 10 overs is totally different to four overs, and then you're going to see how he pulls up in the field as well having bowled those 10 overs.”
India will commence their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on February 19.
India's squad for England ODIs
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
India's squad for Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja