- By Gurmeet Batra
- Tue, 04 Feb 2025 07:10 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released an updated ODI squad for the upcoming England series on Tuesday, February 4, with Jasprit Bumrah's name conspicuously absent.
Initially, Bumrah had been included in the squad for the three-match series, which begins on February 6 in Nagpur. Although the BCCI has not officially commented on Bumrah's exclusion, his sudden removal from the squad has raised questions and sparked curiosity among fans and observers.
Bumrah suffered a back injury during the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney after an incident in which he had to take scans during the Test match, leaving him unable to bowl in India's second innings.
The star pacer reportedly reached Bengaluru on February 3 for a fitness assessment with the medical team and experts from the BCCI. The evaluation is extremely important since it is supposed to decide his possible participation in the Champions Trophy. A report on his fitness is expected to be filed soon, as his chance for participating in the tournament is still in the air.
While announcing the squads for the England series and the Champions Trophy in January, Ajit Agarkar, chairman of the senior selection committee, also mentioned that a detailed medical bulletin would be issued after Bumrah consults with medical experts to assess the extent of his back injury.
Ahead of the three-match ODI series, India's vice-captain Shubman Gill on Tuesday defended their performance in the Test rubber loss in Australia, saying that one poor series does not define a team and that it is unfair to criticise a side after a rare bad outing.
India suffered a 1-3 defeat in the five-match series in Australia, bringing to an end their decade-long dominance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Key players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Gill himself are now set to return for the three-match ODI series against England before heading to Dubai for the all-important ICC Champions Trophy.
"One series does not define the form of the whole team. There are a lot of players who, in the past, have performed consistently in a lot of series and tournaments," Gill told reporters here ahead of the first ODI against England.
"Definitely, we did not play as per our expectations in the Australian series, but still we played some good cricket. We were unfortunate not to have (Jasprit) Bumrah on the last day and we would have won the match and the series would have been a draw and this talk wouldn't have happened.
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"One match and one day doesn't define us, we won there twice before and earlier won a World Cup and then reached the final of a World Cup, so we should keep all those things in mind."
The spotlight is firmly on senior players Rohit and Kohli, who have struggled with the bat in recent times.
However, Gill was quick to highlight the skipper's sensational form in white-ball cricket, which played a pivotal role in India reaching the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Even in the Sri Lanka series, Rohit scored two half centuries.
"The way Rohit bhai has been batting in the ODIs in the past one year and a half, it's been really game-changing for us.
"Taking the momentum right through from the start and taking the game away form ball one and it makes the job of the non-striker and the batsmen coming in a bit easier and I think it has helped our team a lot."