India’s Champions Trophy 2025 Squad Predictions: Bumrah Denies Injury Rumors

India’s Champions Trophy squad will be announced on 18 or 19 January 2025. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are almost sure to be included in the squad. However, a report recently suggested that the availability of Jasprit Bumrah was uncertain as he recovers from a back injury that happened during the India vs Australia Border Gavaskar Trophy.

In a new twist, Bumrah took to X (formerly Twitter) denying such reports that claimed he was advised bed rest ahead of the Champions Trophy. Bumrah responded on X, calling the claims “Fake news” and also added laughing emojis.

For the unversed, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy saw Jasprit Bumrah facing an injury scare in the final Test at Sydney. Despite this setback, Bumrah finished as the series’ top wicket-taker with 32 wickets and earned the Player of the Series award.

ICC Player of the Month

Interestingly, Jasprit Bumrah also won the ICC Player of the Month award for December 2024. His performance of taking 22 wickets in the BGT series at an average of 14.22 was widely appreciated. Fans are hopeful he will recover in time for the upcoming Champions Trophy where he remains an important player. He is also nominated for two prestigious ICC Awards 2024: the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year and the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.

Before the official announcement of the Champions Trophy squad announcement, we also got a positive update that Mohammed Shami is all set to return to the squad after recovering from a long injury break, according to some reports.

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle also shared his views on the team picks on his YouTube channel. For his lineup, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as openers, with Yashasvi Jaiswal as an option. Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant as both batters and wicketkeepers. In his list, all-rounder Hardik Pandya is at no. 8. Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami as pacers, then Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar as spinners, and Bhogle mentioned Varun Chakravarthy as extra (15th player) for his wicket-taking skills.