When the squad was announced, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said the management expected him to be fit for the third and final ODI against England. But on Tuesday evening, while the BCCI sent out a release officially informing of Varun Chakravarthy’s addition to the squad, it did not mention Bumrah.

The board has yet to provide an official update regarding Bumrah’s injury or his absence from the squad for the ODIs against England. Still, that his name has gone missing at this point in time raises eyebrows and remains a cause of concern, considering the Champions Trophy is just two weeks away.

According to a Times of India report, Bumrah has already reached the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and will stay in Bengaluru for a few days. He will only make a comeback once he gets the clearance from the physios at the NCA.

What did Ajit Agarkar say?

Earlier in January, during the Champions Trophy squad announcement, Agarkar did not give a clear answer regarding Bumrah’s injury but revealed that the pacer was asked to “off-load for five weeks”.

“Bumrah has been told to off-load for five weeks after and he won’t be available for the first two ODIs against England. We are waiting on his fitness and will know his status in early February from the medical team. We’ll probably find out a bit more around that time, what exactly, and with regards to what his medical condition is, I’m sure BCCI might just put something out, from the physio itself,” Agarkar had said.

For the uninitiated, all teams can change their provisional squads for the Champions Trophy by February 11. The Indian management now has eight days to make a final call on Bumrah’s participation in the eight-team tournament.

India’s squad for the ODI series against England: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.