India will be without Jasprit Bumrah in their bid to win the Champions Trophy for the first time since 2013. The fast bowler, who is rated by many as the best across formats, was officially withdrawn from the squad on Tuesday night after the Ajit Agarkar-led senior BCCI selection committee did not want to risk him for an entire tournament without match practice. Bumrah had been out of action ever since hurting his back in the final Test against Australia in Sydney. While Bumrah’s absence came as a major blow to India’s Champions Trophy campaign even before it even started, what raised eyebrows was India’s choice of replacement.
Agarkar and his selection committee chose to go with an inexperienced Harshit Rana instead of Mohammed Siraj, who played all the matches in the ODI World Cup in 2023. Siraj was named as a travelling reserve. There were strong indications that Rana was ahead of Siraj in the race to replace Bumrah when captain Rohit Sharma quietly took his name at the squad announcement press conference last month.
Furthermore, India dropped opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and replaced him with spinner Varun Chakaravarthy when there were already four spinners in their squad. India’s 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy now has five spin-bowling options – Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar and only three pacers – Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit with Hardik Pandya being the lone seam-bowling all-rounder.
While pitches in the UAE – India is the only team to play all its matches in a single venue (Dubai) in this edition of the Champions Trophy – are known to assist the spinners, especially when the ball gets a little older, having five spin-bowling options in the squad made little sense to the fans, who rejected in India’s flocked social media after India announced their revised team late on Tuesday night.
On current form, Chakarvarthy is certainly India’s best white-ball spinner, but the recency bias should not go against Kuldeep Yadav, who had an outstanding 2023 in all formats. The chances of playing both Kuldeep and Chakaravarthy in the XI appear slim, as India will have all-rounders for the balance.
A fan was mighty upset with India captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir for replacing Jaiswal with Chakaravarthy. He argued that the swap should have been between Sundar and Chakarvarthy
“What a messy selection.
1) 5 spinners out of 15 members squad
2) Harshit Rana replacing Jasprit Bumrah instead of Siraj
3) Jaiswal not selected
It could have been straight Sundar OUT and Jaiswal IN. But we have brain faded Captain & Coach combo,” he wrote.
India will take on England in the third and final ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. This will be their last match before the Champions Trophy, which starts on February 19. In the first match, hosts Pakistan will take on New Zealand. India start their campaign against Bangladesh the next day in Dubai. Their next match is against Pakistan on February 23 followed by the last group-stage game against New Zealand on March 2.
Top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-final.
