The Indian team’s preparations for the Champions Trophy 2025 just got a bit more complicated. With the tournament mere days away, the team suffered a significant setback when fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to injury. And if that wasn’t enough, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was also dropped from the squad. Now, Jaiswal has been dealt another blow – he’s been forced out of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semi-final match against Vidarbha in Nagpur on Monday, 17 February, with an ankle injury he picked up during training.
You’ve got to feel for the guy – Jaiswal was initially part of India’s Champions Trophy 2025 team, only to be later excluded and replaced by Varun Chakraborty. Although he was retained as a non-trimming reserve, it’s likely he’ll be heading home now. Mumbai, however, won’t be announcing a replacement for Jaiswal, given they’ve already got a talented pool of players like Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dubey, and Shardul Thakur. Incidentally, Dubey has also been selected as a non-trimming reserve in India’s Champions Trophy team.
Vidarbha in great form
Jaiswal made his ODI debut in the first ODI against England in Nagpur earlier this month, filling in for the injured Virat Kohli. Unfortunately, he managed just 15 runs in that match. His Ranji Trophy record this season isn’t much to write home about either – he’s played only one match, against Jammu and Kashmir, scoring 4 and 26 runs in two innings as Mumbai lost by five wickets. The upcoming semi-final against Vidarbha will be a rematch of last year’s title match. Vidarbha is looking fierce, having won seven out of eight matches this Ranji season and dispatching Tamil Nadu by 198 runs in the quarter-finals.
Mumbai’s team is looking solid, though, with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shardul Thakur on board. Here’s the full squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Amogh Bhatkal, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dubey, Akash Anand (wicketkeeper), Hardik Tamore (wicketkeeper), Suryansh Shedge, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Mohit, Sylvester D’Souza, Royston Dies, Atharva Ankolekar, Harsh Tanna. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare against Vidarbha, that’s for sure.