Bumrah's absence leaves Shami to step up on return

They waited as far as possible to see if they could bring a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah back on the park. But once medical experts sounded a note of caution, it was decided that it wasn't worth risking the career of India's biggest bowling weapon in the Champions Trophy.

- Rasesh Mandani

AHMEDABAD: With the summer Test tour of England to follow IPL, you wouldn't want to jeopardise India's winnability. A Tuesday night conference call between India captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Bumrah wouldn't take the flight to Dubai.

The miss was as big as a football World Cup losing Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Steve Harmison. A 30-35% setback to India's title hopes, in Ravi Shastri's assessment. Agarkar and his selection committee got into action once the decision was made on Bumrah, making further tweaks to India's provisional squad. Harshit Rana was brought in as replacement for his first ICC tournament. The 23-year-old's hard lengths were trusted over Mohammed Siraj's "lack of effectiveness with the old ball", as Rohit put it.