IND vs ENG ODI | Nagpur question: How (and who) will India replace Jasprit Bumrah? | Cricket News

Jasprit Bumrah, like Sachin Tendulkar once, carries the mood of a nation. With a single, devastating spell, he could bring joy, as he has provided numerous times in his career. A bad day on the field, those rare days when nothing quite works for him, he plunges the millions watching him into despair. Now, they anxiously wait for his fitness updates for the Champions Trophy.A chain of questions arises. At what stage of the tournament would he be fit enough to feature in the tournament? How fit would he be? Would he not feature at all? What would India do? Who would replace him? It’s just like Tendulkar’s injury-ridden late 90s. Whenever India have performed well, there has been the stamp of Bumrah’s sleight-of-hand mastery. Be it the 2024 World T20 final, the 2023 ODI World Cup—it’s little coincidence that India’s lone defeat in the tournament arrived on his rare off-day, which cruelly came in the final against Australia—or the Test wins in England, Australia and South Africa.
Put it simply, India would miss Bumrah. Not just the skills, wickets and moments, but the fear he instills in batsmen, and his ability to inspire his team. Virat Kohli would say at the felicitation function of the triumphant T20 team at Wankhede. “What I want everyone to do is applaud a guy who brought us back into the tournament again and again and again,” he would say.

📍 Nagpur
Gearing up for the #INDvENG ODI series opener..
..in Ro-Ko style 😎#TeamIndia | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ImRo45 | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/gR2An4tTk0
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 5, 2025
But with just a fortnight for the start of Champions Trophy, India can’t brood on his absence or sweat over his return date. Rather, they have to discover the perfect bowling combo—for finding a like-for-like replacement—to compensate for his absence. In this regard, the return of Mohammed Shami spells relief. There is the fast improving Arshdeep Singh and the promising Harshit Rana too, who though would have just three ODIs against England, kickstarting in Nagpur from Wednesday, to find their ODI gears.
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But there are caveats too. Shami, who on his day could be as lethal as Bumrah, is returning from a lengthy injury-induced lay-off. His last ODI was the World Cup final in Ahmedabad, 15 months ago. He did squeeze in a couple of games in the T20-leg against England. But how his body holds up to the rigours of bowling 10 overs, and whether he could sustain his intensity throughout the match, are uncertain. Even the most seasoned bowlers take time to regain their optimal rhythm.
Then there is Arshdeep, one of India’s heroes in the T20 World Cup. The joint wicket-taker with 17 scalps, he, like Shami in the 50-over World Cup, benefitted from Bumrah’s tight spells at the other end. In ODIs, though, his sample size is not big enough to draw conclusions about his long-term promise. In eight games, he has picked up 12 wickets including a five-for against South Africa. But he reinforced his 50-overs values with a haul of 20 wickets, the highest, in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. With his ability to swing and seam the ball both ways, apart from the variations at his disposal, he holds promise to reproduce his T20 heroics in ODIs too. England’s batsmen would offer a stiff examination of his virtues.
The third seamer in the squad, Harshit, has not yet made his debut in this format, despite encouraging starts in other forms. He is not a vastly experienced L A hand either—having featured in only 14 games, though the numbers of 22 wickets at an average of 23.45 stand impressively. It’s important that at least two of the three frontline seamers along with Hardik Pandya, click collectively. One man alone cannot move the mountain, as the Test series in Australia demonstrated.
Spin worries
The concerns, then, are not limited to the seam department. Like Shami, lead spinner Kuldeep Yadav is also returning from a surgery, even though it did not keep him on the sidelines for a lengthy period. He played India’s last ODI series in Sri Lanka as well as the last round of the Ranji Trophy group games recently, wherein he logged 31 overs. Still, there would be a few anxious eyes following his bowling.Story continues below this ad
The identity of his partner has sparked considerable interest and speculation. The late addition of leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who troubled England in the T20s, adds a layer of intrigue. Like Harshit, Varun is an ODI fresher, but he has bowled spectacularly in this format as well (average of 14.13, economy rate of 4.28 in 23 outings). He was also the leading wicket-taker among spinners in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, snapping up 18 wickets with a best of 5/9 and an average of 12.16.
Whether a heap of wickets would seal him a late spot in the Champions Trophy is uncertain but India captain Rohit Sharma has hinted that Varun is in contention for the Champions Trophy. “He has certainly shown something different. I understand that it is a T20 format but he has clearly got something different about him. So we just wanted to have an option and see what we can do with him,” he said.
“Clearly during the series it presents us an opportunity to play him at some stage and see what he is capable of. If things plan out really well for us and he does what is required then definitely there is something that we need to think about,” he added.

Thus, the absence of Bumrah has breathed an extra skin of context and importance to the three-match series. But every answer brings us back to the same set of Bumrah-centric questions. He is irreplaceable, but with collective brilliance, India could make his absence less pronounced. The series will throw vital clues on India’s ability to cope without Bumrah against quality sides.