Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah returns to ODI cricket after a gap of nearly 1000 days. Bumrah last played an ODI in 2023, that being the ill-fated, ODI World Cup 2023 Final.
Virat Kohli too returns after a hamstring injury he sustained in the final of this year’s IPL ruled him out of the Afghanistan ODI series. His availability is subject to his fitness.
Bumrah was rested from the one off test and ODI series against Afganistan owing to BCCI’s workliad management. In this year’s IPL, Bumrah looked suprisingly off colour. He managed to pick only 4 wickets at an whopping average of 102.5, the worst average ever in the IPL for someone who has bowled more than 20 overs in a season. His economy rate was also 8.63, great by IPL standards but a tad too high by his own. One can hope that a break post the IPL might have helped Bumrah get his rhythm back.
Kohli on the other hand had a spectacular season with the bat, scoring 675 runs in 16 matches at an average of 56.25 and a aggressive strike rate of 165.85, helping RCB clinch their second championship.
Other Changes
The England ODI series is particularly important because it serves as warm-up for next year’s ODI WC in South Africa, because the conditions can be expected to be similar, bouncy pitches with purchase in the air for pacers.
Jaiswal, who scored a century in the last match of Afghanistan ODI series, finds his name missing from the list, and so do Prince Yadav and Harsh Dubey, making way for Harshit Rana and Axar Patel. Jadeja’s comeback into the ODI squad now seems increasingly impossible.
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