In a major blow to India, Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury, Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) confirmed late on Tuesday. (More Cricket News)
Harshit Rana has replaced the pace spearhead in India's squad for the tournament. In another change in India's squad, spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been added to in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal who has been dropped.
Bumrah was named in India's provisional squad for the tournament, but his participation remained in doubt due the back injury which he suffered during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January.
Jaiswal, Rana and Chakravarthy made their ODI debut during the recent India-England series. While Rana and Chakravarthy will continue to be with the Indian team, Jaiswal will move back to the domestic setup. The left-hander remains a back-up alongside Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube but the trio will not travel with the Indian team.
India Updated Champions Trophy 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
Non Travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube
The ICC Champions Trophy returns this year after an eight-year hiatus with defending champions Pakistan designated as hosts. However, due to political tensions between the two countries, India will not travel to Pakistan and instead play their games in the United Arab Emirates under a "hybrid model" agreement.
The eight-team tournament begins in Lahore on February 19 while India open their campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh. The marquee India-Pakistan clash takes place on February 23 before India finish their group campaign against New Zealand on February 26.
The two semifinals of the tournament are scheduled on March 5 and 6 while the final takes place on March 9.
