Champions Trophy 2025: Jasprit Bumrah Set to Miss Group Stage Matches with Back Injury

India's main pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to miss the group stage matches of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 because of a back injury. Bumrah left the field midway through the fifth Test between India and Australia to undergo scans. Although there was a question about how bad his injury was, recent updates indicate the bowler may not be available for the early stages of the tournament.

According to the Indian Express, Bumrah is expected to regain his fitness by the first week of March. This timeline has him potentially missing all group stage matches. He will report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru where the medical team will track his progress of recovery. Before Bumrah can rejoin the Indian squad he has to play two or three practice games to prove his fitness.

“He (Bumrah) will be going to NCA for his rehabilitation. The initial report says he doesn’t have a fracture but has swelling on his back. So the NCA will monitor his recovery and he will be there for three weeks. But even after that, he will have to play a match or two, even if they are practice games organised to check his match fitness,” a source said.

After the selectors held their meeting to pick the squad for the India-England T20I series, they were kept informed of Jasprit Bumrah’s state. As of now, there is no word on whether the BCCI will approach the ICC for an extension of the January 12 deadline to announce its provisional squad for the Champions Trophy. This is because Bumrah has persisting back problems – he has already had surgery that kept him out of action from 2022 to 2023 and has similar issues now.

In 2024, Bumrah had a tough time with his workload. After his IPL stint, he was a key man in India’s T20 World Cup winning campaign. He also played in Test series against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Australia, making him one of the most-used Indian pacers of the year.