Champions Trophy 2025: Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav behind India's squad announcement delay

The new year brings new excitement and thrilling cricket action with the year 2025 also set to welcome another mega cricket title in the form of Champions Trophy 2025. Keeping that in mind, with the tournament due in February, five teams have announced their squad for the marquee event. After Australia being the latest team to announce more or less a confirmed squad, another powerhouse in India have still not made any announcement regarding the squad.

Notably, the Champions Trophy is scheduled to start on February 19, but the Indian board aka BCCI have delayed the squad naming act. Now in the latest development, after missing the January 12 deadline for squad announcement, it has been revealed that due to injury concerns of two key players had led to this unavoidable delay. For the unversed, star players Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav have nursed their injury woes of late.

Especially in the case of Bumrah, who is yet to know the exact nature and timeline for gaining full fitness, Kuldeep was sidelined due to a groin injury in October last year. After sustaining the injury, he underwent surgery in Germany. As per Dainik Jagran, given that Bumrah also suffered a setback in the form of back spasms, he had sought guidance and consultation from his New Zealand-based doctor recently.

As a result, these uncertainties led to the BCCI postponing the squad announcement. Interestingly, amid these reports, an ICC source confirmed that all the teams including India, have already sent their initial teams by midnight on Monday.

“All cricket boards had to send their preliminary teams by midnight of January 12,” said a source close to the ICC as per the Hindustan Times.

Injured Bumrah, Kuldeep, Shami made it to India’s CT 2025 squad

Meanwhile, speaking of the injury status of three key Indian players viz- Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami, as per the Indian Express, pacer Bumrah will not be able to spearhead the Indian pace attack at the beginning of the Champions Trophy. Reports suggested that Bumrah was asked to report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru after a swelling occurred in his back. As a result, he is now tipped to join the Indian contingent after the group-stage matches of the ICC mega 50-over event.

Also Read- Reports: India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad announcement may be delayed

When it comes to Kuldeep, the leg spinner has been out of action after last playing against New Zealand at home. But he is most likely to get into the groove by the end of January. Before the Champions Trophy, India are to clash with England in an ODI series at home, starting on February 6.

Hence, Kuldeep is expected to make a comeback through this series. Last but not least, Shami who played some domestic matches to prove his fitness amid some concerns with his knee, finally made it to the ODI squad announced for the series against England. All in all, the BCCI has yet to make any official announcements regarding the injury status of the star players.