Jasprit Bumrah will miss the upcoming Champions Trophy after having failed to recover from a back spasm.
Former India pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji said that Mohammed Shami “outbowled” Jasprit Bumrah during the last two editions of the ODI World Cup (in 2019 and 2023) and added that the Bengal speedster’s experience will be key in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Bumrah will miss the upcoming Champions Trophy after having failed to recover from a back spasm that he sustained during the fifth Test against Australia in January.
Apart from Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana are the other pacers in the India squad for the eight-team tournament. Bumrah’s absence will be a huge miss for India but Balaji hopes that Shami will come good.
“Actually, he had out-bowled Bumrah in the 2019 (50-over World Cup) and in the last World Cup (2023). Bumrah is the champion bowler across formats. But Shami has experience and, before Bumrah’s arrival, it was Shami who carried India’s attack all through,” Balaji told news agency PTI.
The 43-year-old opined that Shami will have his task cut out with the new ball. “If India has to do well, then Shami has to come good with the new ball. The kind of impact he can make in his first six overs with the new ball will play a crucial role for India. The old ball is anyway… it is a defensive game now. If he can make early inroads regularly, that will give a huge booster to India,” he stated.
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Shami had collected 14 wickets during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England and finished as the top wicket-taker in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India with 24 scalps. However, he suffered an ankle injury during the final against Australia. He underwent surgery on his Achilles tendon in February 2024 and returned to competitive cricket during Bengal’s Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in November that year, when he picked seven wickets.
The 34-year-old also played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, before making his international comeback in the T20I series against England in January. He played four limited-overs matches against England and picked up five wickets. Balaji said that while there will be slowness in his bowling, he is confident that Shami will gradually regain his rhythm.
“Since that (ankle) injury has happened, there was a little bit of slowness, maybe. It’s natural. But there is nothing you can do about it. It’s part of any sportsperson’s career. He has the experience to get over it, and he will do it as he bowls more. It’s just about accepting the (physical) condition and continuing his best practices,” explained the former Tamil Nadu cricketer.
“Shami is the leader of the pack right now. I mean, he has been the leader of the pack for a long time now. If you see what Shami has done in 12 years of cricket and, especially, in Test cricket, it has been humongous. Now, if he starts striking with the new ball, the confidence it gives to other bowlers will be huge,” he added.
India will begin their Champions Trophy campaign with a Group A match against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday (20 February). Pakistan and New Zealand are the other teams in the group.
