Bumrah, Shami picked in India’s Champions Trophy squad, no place for Mohammed Siraj

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been picked in India’s Champions Trophy squad. While Bumrah recently suffered a back injury, Shami was recently named in India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against England. 

Bumrah’s selection is conditional to him recovering fully from the back spasms. It was recently reported that Bumrah would miss the group stages of the Champions Trophy.

Mohammed Siraj has been ignored by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection despite consistent performances in the 50-over format. Siraj has 71 wickets in 44 ODIs and thus his omission surprised one and all.

Arshdeep Singh has been picked as the third seamer whereas India has backed three spin all-rounders in Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep Yadav also makes the cut as a wrist spinner.

Shubman Gill has been appointed as the vice-captain for the marquee tournament. KL Rahul is expected to be the first choice wicket-keeper of the team whereas Rishabh Pant has also been added as the second keeper.

Yashasvi Jaiswal has been also included in the squad after his impressive performances in the T20I and ODI teams. Rohit Sharma will lead the side whereas Hardik Pandya will be the seam-bowling all-rounder in the team.

India are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. The Rohit Sharma-led will open their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Stadium. 

India squad for the Champions Trophy: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah*, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal