Champions Trophy: Bumrah should not be out of action for long, Arun says

The BCCI’s worst-kept secret was finally out at close to midnight on Tuesday — Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy owing to a lower back injury. Harshit Rana, who was handed an ODI debut during the England series has been named the replacement, while mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has also been added to the final squad in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The timing of the announcement, while inconvenient for the media of the Indian subcontinent, is understandable as 12 February is the deadline for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to announce final line-ups for the tournament. What, however, is still behind a smokescreen is an official update on the nature of the injury, and speculation has begun on whether it will force the premier fast bowler to skip IPL 2025, which starts in little over a month’s time.

Former India fast-bowling coach Bharath Arun — whose brainwave along with former head coach Ravi Shastri resulted in Bumrah being fast-tracked into red-ball cricket — feels his ward’s lay-off will not be a long-term one. ‘’The scans say Bumrah’s injury is not a serious one, it is something which requires adequate rest and exercises. My assessment is that the medical team of the NCA (National Cricket Academy) did not want to take any chances with him but he should not be out of action for too long,’’ said Arun, now the bowling coach of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.

Bumrah, whose selection for the top two ICC awards for 2024 (Cricketer of the Year & Test Cricketer of the Year) was almost a no-brainer, appeared to be in discomfort after  bowling just 10.1 overs in the Sydney Test in the first week of January. He came out to bat in the second innings but did not bowl any further in the match, leaving fans to lament that his presence could have given India a fighting chance in the contest.

Speaking to National Herald, Arun — whose regime saw the rejuvenation of an Indian pace battery — felt the pressure on Bumrah during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was there for all to see. ‘’It’s difficult to say whether the back injury was a result of being over-bowled, but he was certainly carrying the burden of expectations of a billion people owing to lack of support from other end. His action is a unique one where he does not build up a momentum from his run-up but does so off his back and shoulder, hence his workload has to be managed very carefully,’’ Arun felt.

There is no doubt about the workload on the bowler in the last few months as Bumrah emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the series with 32 scalps at an incredible average of 13.06, and bowled more than 150 overs over five Tests. Asked about 1983 World Cup winner Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s contention that bowling around 15 overs in a day’s play should be par for the course, Arun shot back: ‘’It’s not quite the same thing to bowl 15 overs of medium pace and to bowl at 140 kmph.’’ 

Meanwhile, Bumrah’s absence in the marquee ODI tournament will rob it of a lot of its sheen in terms of quality of fast bowling, what with the world-beating Australian trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood also out of the Champions Trophy. While Starc pulled out at the eleventh hour citing personal reasons, captain Pat Cummins is out with a back spasm and Hazlewood is nursing an ankle injury.

Anrich Nortje, the South African quick, has been laid low with a back injury too, while their fiery young paceman Gerald Coetzee is out with groin tightness and a hamstring injury.

There has been a question mark over Pakistan’s Haris Rauf too, after he suffered a muscular sprain during their tri-series match against New Zealand on 8 February. However, Rauf is expected to be back in the frame ahead of their opening Champions Trophy tie on 19 February.

India’s updated squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy