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World’ best Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was close to being fit for the Champions Trophy but he was ultimately overlooked for the premier tournament as the seelectors didn’t want to risk playing him due to concerns over his recovery and the upcoming IPL.
“If there was no IPL, Bumrah could have been risked in the Champions Trophy, who knows?” a source with an explosive set of claims, told CricBlogger, which was the first to report on Bumrah’s 100 per cent fitness and the oossibility of him playing the Champions Trophy in Dubai.
Two days later, Bumrah was declared unfit for the ICC event. Prior to that, there wasn’t much alarm in his second scan report and therefore speculation is rife that the decision to leave out Bumrah from the Champions Trophy team had some connect with the timing of the IPL. “What happens if and when Bumrah gets fit for IPL?” The source asked while hinting at the obvious claim of club over country.
Bumrah would use this break from the Champions Trophy to regain his match-fitness but others are debating about how many players’ participation in international cricket could be influenced by franchise commitments. The idea that this fast bowler was overused in the Melbourne Test and then ruled out of the Sydney Test, where he was supposed to lead, adds a dramatic layer to the whole situation.
The conspiracy theory is also linking Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and Bumrah’s absence from the Champions Trophy team. It is said that Rohit overused Bumrah to keep him out of the leadership conversation. This would point to deeper tensions within the Indian team. Leadership struggles and power dynamics have always been part of Indian cricket, but this would be a major controversy if proven true.
However, it’s also possible that Bumrah was simply overworked due to India’s reliance on him, rather than any ulterior motive from Rohit. India’s pace attack, while talented, still revolves around Bumrah in high-pressure situations. If the team management failed to manage his workload properly, that alone is a serious issue and it also reflects the failure of the Indian selectors for preparing a bowling line-up that has a paranoid dependence on Bumrah!
