Former England fast bowler David Lloyd feels India will miss their pace ace, Jasprit Bumrah, in the forthcoming Champions Trophy. The right-arm seam bowler was eliminated due to fitness reasons and is at present undergoing rehab at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. Back spasms had occurred in Bumrah during the third and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, which has now kept him out of this important ICC tournament.
Bumrah’s absence creates a big gap in India’s bowling unit. The 31-year-old has been one of the standout performers in recent international tournaments, such as the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the arduous five-match Test series against Australia. Lloyd feels that losing a bowler from Bumrah’s class is a huge loss.
“You are going to miss him (Bumrah),” David Lloyd said on TalkSPORT. “You can’t get away from the fact that the best bowler in the world isn’t playing. Then you’ve got a problem.”
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Without Bumrah, India’s pace attack is vulnerable. While Mohammed Shami has experience, he is coming back from a long injury break. The rest of the fast-bowling options—Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana—have played a combined 12 ODIs, so they are comparatively untested in 50-over cricket at the international level.
David Lloyd has identified left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh as a possible weak link. While Arshdeep has been a regular in India’s T20I team, he has had limited experience in ODIs, with just nine games to his name. Lloyd recommends that the opposition try to target this lack of experience.
“If you are the opposition, test him out. Get right in at him. This is not T20, this is not a small party—you’ve got to come back and bowl and bowl and bowl, and that’s something he won’t be accustomed to. If you’re the opposition, you attempt to play on that. Let’s find out what he’s got,” David Lloyd said.
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India, who are in Group A, will play Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma’s side begin their campaign against Bangladesh next week, hoping to get past the issues caused by Bumrah’s absence.
