After Shami’s return, India are sweating on Bumrah’s fitness for the Champions Trophy. cricket news
The absence of injured Bumrah from the T20 series against England has raised doubts over his return to the ICC event.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will miss India’s T20 International series against England, but his fast bowler Mohammed Shami will make a comeback after being out of the team for a year.
Bumrah, who suffered back spasms during the last match of the Test series against Australia, was not included in the 15-member squad named by the BCCI on Saturday.
The BCCI has not revealed the nature of his injury or when Bumrah will return to action.
While his absence from the five-match bilateral series is unlikely to cause serious concern for India, the T20 champions will be sweating on his recovery and return ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai.
The 31-year-old was the leading wicket-taker on India’s tour of Australia, but he was dropped midway through the Sydney Test. However, BCCI has not given any reason for dropping him from the white-ball team.
Shami returned to the team after being out for more than a year due to an ankle injury and subsequent surgery following the 2023 50-over World Cup.
The 34-year-old has missed all of India’s international matches in 2024 but returned to domestic cricket in October and has been closely monitored by the national team medical staff.
India missed Shami in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series in Australia.
Along with Shami, spin all-rounder Axar Patel was named India’s vice-captain for the first time. The command of the team is in the hands of Suryakumar Yadav.
All-rounders Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar, as well as fast bowler Harshit Rana have returned to the T20 squad after missing the 3-1 series win in South Africa in November due to their Test commitments in Australia.
Star wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant continues to miss out on India’s T20 plans. He last featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup win in West Indies.
In Pant’s absence, Sanju Samson has been the opening batsman and first-choice keeper, having scored three centuries in seven matches against Bangladesh and South Africa last year. Dhruv Jurel is the second wicketkeeper named in the team.
India will host England in the first T20I on January 22, before concluding the series on February 12, followed by a three-match ODI series before the Champions Trophy next month.
India team: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakraborty, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper).
