By Karan Agrawal 
One of the highly debated topics in the last few days has been the unavailability of Jasprit Bumrah for the Champions Trophy scheduled to begin from February 19. India’s fast bowling spearhead has been ruled out of the multination tournament due to a back injury, which he picked up during the fifth and final test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy last month. Bumrah has been replaced by Harshit Rana, who made his ODI debut in the recently concluded home series against England and was impressive with the ball.
The Trio
Bumrah’s injury is a major setback for a bowling lineup that lacks experience as two of India’s three experienced fast bowlers, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, who were instrumental in guiding India to the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup will not be a part of the 15 member squad with Mohammed Shami being the only pacer with a significant amount of experience in ODI cricket. Although this will be Shami’s second outing in the Champions Trophy, there are concerns about the fast bowler’s fitness as he is making a comeback in international cricket after 15 months and hasn’t looked effective in the handful of matches he has played so far.
The Reason
Amidst Jasprit Bumrah’s injury, which resulted in him being ruled out of the Champions Trophy, former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has said that injuries are common nowadays, considering the amount of cricket that is being played. “The only thing that worries me is that they play for 10 months a year—injuries will be much more common,” Kapil said at the Tata Steel Golf prize distribution ceremony, as quoted by PTI.
Expert’s Corner
When asked about the effect Jasprit Bumrah’s injury might have on the team, Kapil Dev said that we should not talk about players who are not a part of the team. “Why talk about someone who is not in the team? It’s a team game, and the team has to win, not individuals. This is not badminton, tennis, or golf; we are playing a team sport in the Champions Trophy. If we play as a team, we will definitely win,” he asserted. “You never want your main players to get injured, but if it happens, you can’t do anything about it. Good luck to my Indian team — go and play well.”
The Confidence
Talking about the youngsters in the team, the former Indian captain said that these players are immensely talented and are filled with a lot of confidence. In the words of Kapil Dev, “When you see the youngsters, their confidence is unbelievable. We didn’t have this much confidence when we were young. Good luck to them.”