The BCCI announced that Jasprit Bumrah won’t be a part of the ICC Champions Trophy. But it was a decision that was taken by the trio of Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, and Ajit Agarkar. The report sent by the NCA claimed that Bumrah had undergone his rehab. However, the NCA claimed they couldn’t confirm if the pacer would be ready for the mega event.
11th February was the D Day when Jasprit Bumrah‘s fate for the ICC event was decided. As per reports, Bumrah was fit but the BCCI didn’t want to take any risk with their star player. The tournament starts in a week’s time. And with Bumrah, not yet bowling full tilt, it could be a massive blunder to take a player who has just returned from his injury.
No risk taken on Bumrah for ICT
“Bumrah was asked to off-load for five weeks after which his rehabilitation at NCA happened under strength & conditioning trainer Rajnikanth and physio Thulasi,” a top BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The BCCI official also claimed that the scan reports of Bumrah were okay. However, the NCA Head Nitin Patel left the final decision on the matter to be taken by the BCCI Chief Selector. This was mainly owing to the fact that Bumrah hasn’t bowled in match simulations.
“The report sent by NCA head Nitin Patel clearly states that while he has completed his rehabilitation and scan reports seemed to be okay, it couldn’t be concluded whether he would be bowling fit by the time the tournament starts. Hence the selectors didn’t take any risk. Nitin left the ball in Ajit’s (chief selector Agarkar) court and hence no one would want to stick their necks out and take the risk of putting an unfit player in squad. If medical team doesn’t green-light fully, how can the selection committee take that risk,” the official said.
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The BCCI were unwilling to repeat the past. Back under Chetan Sharma’s tenure, they pushed for an unfit Bumrah in the series against Australia. The pacer got injured further, had surgery, and missed action for a year. Ajit Agarkar and Co were unwilling to take such a huge risk in the ICC event.
“The stakes are too high and it would have been a complete embarrassment had Bumrah broken down in a match. The NCA led by Nitin Patel had once burnt their hands in 2022 when they pushed Bumrah for the bilateral series against Australia before the T20 World Cup, and he broke down to be out for one year. That was Chetan Sharma’s committee and so Agarkar didn’t want to take a chance,” he concluded.
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