Leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss India’s T20 international series against England, but his pace-bowling partner Mohammad Shami will return after a year out of the side, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed.
Bumrah, who suffered from back spasms during the final match of the Test series against Australia, was not included in the 15-man squad named by the BCCI on Saturday.
The BCCI has not revealed the nature of his injury or when Bumrah will be back in action.
While his absence from the five-match bilateral series is unlikely to cause serious concerns for India, the T20 champions will be sweating on his recovery and return ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai.
The 31-year-old was the highest wicket-taker on India’s tour of Australia but was forced out of the Sydney Test midway. However, the BCCI has not provided a reason for his omission from the white-ball squad.
Shami returned to the squad after more than a year out with an ankle injury and subsequent surgery following the 50-over World Cup in 2023.
The 34-year-old missed all of India’s international matches in 2024 but returned to domestic cricket in October and was monitored closely by the national team’s medical staff.
India missed Shami in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series in Australia.
Alongside Shami, spin all-rounder Axar Patel was named India’s vice captain for the first time. Suryakumar Yadav leads the team.
All-rounders Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar, as well as pacer Harshit Rana, are back in the T20 squad after missing the 3-1 series win in South Africa in November due to their Test commitments in Australia.
Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant continued to miss out on India’s T20 plans. He last featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph in the West Indies.
In Pant’s absence, Sanju Samson has been the opening batter and first-choice keeper, scoring three centuries in seven games against Bangladesh and South Africa last year. Dhruv Jurel is the other wicketkeeper named in the squad.
India host England in the first T20I on January 22, with the series concluding on February 12, followed by a three-match one-day international series before next month’s Champions Trophy.
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper).
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