Champions trophy 2025: India faces selection conundrum as two Key players are ruled out

New Delhi (Uttam Hindu News): The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the updated squad of the Indian team for the Champions Trophy. Jaspreet Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been dropped from the team, while Varun Chakraborty has got a chance. According to BCCI, fast bowler Jaspreet Bumrah has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to a back injury. In his place, young bowler Harshit Rana has been included in the team. Apart from this, spinner Varun Chakraborty has been included in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal.

BCCI has included Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakraborty in India's squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to begin on February 19, featuring the world's top eight ODI teams. India will play all its matches in Dubai after it refused to travel to Pakistan, leading to the ICC approving a hybrid model. India's group-stage campaign includes matches against Bangladesh (February 20), Pakistan (February 23) and New Zealand (March 2). If India advances, the semi-finals will be held on March 4 and 5, while the final will be on March 9.

Bumrah was in great form during India's recent five-match Test series in Australia, where he took 32 wickets and was named Player of the Series. However, he sat out due to a back injury on the last day of the series in Sydney while Australia won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Indian fast bowler has faced injury problems in the past as well. Bumrah was earlier out of international cricket for almost a year from September 2022 to August 2023 due to back surgery.