India’s hopes of landing the Champions Trophy took a hit when their leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of their squad because of an ongoing injury.

Bumrah, the ICC Cricketer of the Year for 2024, has been out of action since injuring his lower back during the Sydney Test in January that also kept him out of the white-ball series against England.

The 31-year-old also missed the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia through injury.

Harshit Rana has been named as his replacement.

Spinner Varun Chakaravarthy also comes into the squad, replacing Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was part of the original provisional team.

Varun, who has taken 31 wickets at 11.25 since his return to India’s T20I squad in October, made his ODI debut on Sunday taking 1-54 in Cuttack.

Jaiswal has been named as a non-travelling substitute, alongside Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy.

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India paceman Jasprit Bumrah has been named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year for 2024.

The right-arm quick returned to the five-day format in late 2023 following a lengthy absence due to a back injury.

The 31-year-old was the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2024, topping the charts with 71, well clear of second-placed Gus Atkinson of England (52 in 11 matches).

His average across the year was a breathtaking 14.92 and he ended 2024 with a strike rate for the year of just 30.1.

“Test cricket has always been a format I hold close to my heart, and to be recognised on this platform is truly special,” said Bumrah.

“This award is not just a reflection of my individual efforts but also of the unwavering support of my teammates, coaches, and fans who continue to believe and inspire me every day.

“Representing India is a privilege I deeply cherish, and knowing my efforts bring smiles to people around the world makes this journey even more special.”

Bumrah beat England batsmen Harry Brook and Joe Root as well as Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis to the award.

Smriti Mandhana made it a double success for India as she was voted Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second time.

Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai clinched the men’s ODI award.

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Jasprit Bumrah picked up a late wicket for India after they’d been bowled out for 185. (more…)

Jasprit Bumrah unleashed more destructive bowling but Australia stubbornly battled back to reach 228-9 on Sunday, leading by 333 runs in an absorbing fourth Test.

Bumrah scythed through the middle order on day four in Melbourne to record figures of 4-56 off 24 overs and hand India an outside chance of victory in a match the home side have mostly dominated.

However, India’s hopes were diminished by a stubborn, unbeaten final-wicket stand of 55 from 17.5 overs.

Nathan Lyon was at the crease on 41 while No 11 Scott Boland had seen off 65 balls to be 10* at the close.

Up by 105 runs on the first innings, Australia were rocked by losing four wickets for 11 midway through the second session to slump to 91-6.

Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins responded with a vital partnership of 57, taking the steam out of Bumrah’s assault.

A charmed Labuschagne scored 70, to back up his first-innings 72, while Cummins produced a captain’s knock of 41, giving him a career-high combined 90 runs for the Test.

Both teams are seeking to go 2-1 up in the series heading into the fifth and final Test in Sydney.

Australia remain in the stronger position on a pitch showing signs of variable bounce.

“Their middle to lower order batting has been exceptional for the last four or five series we’ve played against them, so never comfortable with any amount of runs,” said Labuschagne after play ended.

“At one stage we probably would have taken a 270 lead, and now the lower order has just put us in an amazing position with 333.

“It’s going to be an amazing day tomorrow.”

The conditions were exploited brilliantly by Bumrah, who continued his dominance across a series in which he has claimed 29 wickets.

The 31-year-old powered past 200 Test victims and he boasts the lowest average at 19.45 of all 85 bowlers to have reached that milestone.

Labuschagne was beaten on numerous occasions by Bumrah’s jagging deliveries but kept his nerve in a 139-ball knock.

The Australian No 3 was fortunate, on 46, to survive a straightforward dropped chance in the slips by Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Jaiswal also couldn’t grasp a sharp chance under the helmet offered by Cummins in the final over before tea.

Labuschagne was trapped lbw by lively seamer Mohammed Siraj before Mitchell Starc was run out for five.

Spinner Ravindra Jadeja had Cummins caught behind, heralding the 10th-wicket stand which could yet prove pivotal to the outcome.

Siraj, who took 3-66, sparked the earlier collapse, dismissing first-innings centurion Steve Smith for 13.

Bumrah was at his best when removing Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey cheaply in rapid-fire fashion.

All-rounder Marsh was caught behind without scoring, continuing a series in which has made little meaningful contribution.

“It just happened so quickly,” said Labuschagne of Australia’s middle-order collapse. “As a new batter coming in, it’s very difficult to start in any Test match, but let alone when Bumrah’s got his tail up with the ball nipping around.”

Australia lost both openers before going to lunch at 53-2.

Teenage opener Sam Konstas was unable to match the fearless deeds from his debut first innings of 60, this time bowled for eight by Bumrah.

Usman Khawaja was bowled for 21 by Siraj, having been dropped early on by the butter-fingered Jaiswal at leg gully.

India were earlier dismissed for 369 in reply to Australia’s first innings 474, after adding 11 to their overnight score, with maiden centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy the last man out, caught in the deep for 114.

Reddy’s breakout 189-ball knock comprised 11 fours and one six.

The 21-year-old, playing just his fourth Test, finished with the highest Test score in Melbourne for any player batting at No 8 or lower.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon finished with 3-96. Pat Cummins and Scott Boland also took three wickets each for Australia.

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With his “slingshot” delivery and ability to unsettle the world’s best batsmen, India’s Jasprit Bumrah is widely regarded as one of cricket’s greatest fast bowler.

The 31-year-old has defied career-threatening back problems and on Wednesday overtook Kapil Dev to become India’s leading Test wicket-taker in Australia.

Bumrah, India’s player of the series so far, took nine wickets in the third Test at Brisbane to move to 53 in Australia and past Dev’s previous mark of 51.

He was Man of the Match in India’s 295-run victory in Perth in the opening Test, before the hosts levelled the series in Adelaide.

He is the leading bowler on either side with 21 wickets in the series so far at a scarcely believable average of 10.90. The next best are Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins with 14 dismissals each.

“I think he is definitely India’s greatest fast bowler,” former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said of Bumrah.

“In T20 cricket, one-day cricket and Test match cricket, he’s clearly the best right now.”

Travis Head, who has excelled with the bat for Australia in the five-match series scoring two centuries and a fifty, went even further.

“Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game,” said Head.

Bumrah, captaining in the first Test in the absence of Rohit Sharma, made life hell for the Australian batsmen on a bouncing Perth pitch.

He took 5-30 from 18 overs as the hosts were shot out for 104 and followed up with 3-42 in the second innings as India won by 295 runs.

His unorthodox front-on action allows him to release the ball late and he can bowl yorkers at will.

Australia’s quick bowler Josh Hazlewood marvelled at Bumrah’s idiosyncratic style, which was honed in his childhood while practising in a small car park near his family’s apartment in the city of Ahmedabad.

“If you haven’t faced him before, it can really unsettle you,” Hazlewood said. “He lets the ball go way out in front, so he’s pretty much half a yard quicker than what the actual speed gun says.

“He’s like a slingshot loading up and letting go.”

Bumrah’s match haul in Perth had some pundits questioning the legality of his deliveries, which appear to be bowled with a bent elbow.

Australian great and former India coach Greg Chappell soon jumped to Bumrah’s defence, describing the debate as “nonsense” and deeming Bumrah’s action “unequivocally clean”.

Bumrah has had his share of struggles and only came back into the India team last year after a serious back injury that kept him out of action in 2022 and 2023.

He played a key part in India’s June T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados, where he was instrumental in preventing South Africa scoring 30 runs off the last 30 balls to win the final, a performance dubbed a “masterclass” by Rohit.

The seeds of his greatness were sown at his IPL team the Mumbai Indians, where he has been a fixture for more than a decade.

Former New Zealand batsman John Wright scouted the pace bowler from his home state of Gujarat and brought him to Mumbai in 2013, when the Indians won the first of their five IPL titles.

Bumrah made an instant impact by dismissing Bengaluru’s star batsman Virat Kohli in his first match.

Head, who fell to Bumrah in the second innings at Perth, said he loved trying to solve the conundrum that is the enigmatic bowler.

“It’s going to be nice to look back at your career and tell the grandkids that you faced him,” he said.

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