'Bumrah’s injury to dent India’s Champions Trophy prospects'

Former India captain Ravi Shastri has raised concerns over star pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s potential absence from the Champions Trophy 2025 squad.

The right-arm pacer suffered a back spasm during the last Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and has since been under rehabilitation.

Concerns were raised over India’s bowling depth for the Champions Trophy 2025 as both Bumrah and Mohammed Shami remain uncertain for the tournament due to their respective injuries.

Arshdeep Singh is the third frontline seamer in the India squad while Mohammed Siraj has been left out.

While Shami played in India’s recent T20I series against England, Jasprit Bumrah has not played a single game since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Amid uncertainty over his availability, former India captain Ravi Shastri has said that the star pacer’s absence will dent the side’s prospects in the upcoming tournament.

“Bumrah not fit will reduce India’s chances [of winning the Champions Trophy 2025] by 30 percent, literally by 30-35 percent,” he said.

According to the former India captain, ‘a fully fit Bumrah’ would have helped India in the death overs as seen in recent times.

Ravi Shastri advised against rushing the pacer back into the squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 given the side’s busy schedule following the tournament.

“I think it’s high risk. There’s too much big cricket coming up for India. 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,” he said.

The former India captain was of the view that Jasprit Bumrah might not come good for his side as pacers usually find it hard to perform immediately after recovering from an injury.

“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,” Shastri said.