India suffered a massive blow when senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the Champions Trophy 2025 due to a back issue. He made way for young Harshit Rana in the 15-member squad.

Considering Bumrah’s outstanding performance consistently in the last two years across formats, his absence in the side will definitely be felt but head coach Gautam Gambhir sees it as an opportunity for others to shine.

Bumrah experienced back spasms during the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Sydney. He did not bowl on the last day of the series, despite having taken 32 wickets. The 32-year-old was initially included in Indias preliminary Champions Trophy squad.

“If hes (Bumrah) injured, he’s injured, whether it’s me, whether it’s the captain, we can’t do much about it,” Gambhir said after India completed a3-0 ODI series win over Englandin Ahmedabad.

Obviously we wanted him desperately. We know that what he can do, hes a world-class player. But then again, some things are not in your hands. So its an opportunity for some of the young guys, like Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh, to put their hands up and do something for the country, Gambhir said.

In Bumrah’s absence, Shami, who recently made his international comeback after a long injury-forced layoff, will be leading India’s pace attack.

The team management has been watchful and cautious with Shami’s workload as he didn’t play in the recently concluded T20I and ODI series against England at home.

****Shreyas was never meant to remain on the bench for the entire series- Gautam Gambhir

Shreyas Iyer shined in Indias 3-0 ODI win against England but revealed he played only due to Virat Kohlis injury. His statement surprised many, but Gambhir downplayed the controversy.

Shreyas Iyer is an important player for us. He was not going to be benched for the entire series. Just that we thought we shall give a chance to Jaiswal in the first ODI, as he was in good form. I know just one game wasnt enough, but we thought we shall give him one chance.