India or Australia - which team could struggle more in Champions Trophy 2025 due to injury issues?

India and Australia, two of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy favorites, have been plagued with injury issues that could derail their campaign. The defending 50-over world champions suffered their biggest blow when captain Pat Cummins and fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood were ruled out of the event initially.

The Kangaroos suffered an even bigger blow when left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc pulled out of the tournament earlier this week due to personal reasons. With Marcus Stoinis retiring all of a sudden and Mitchell Marsh out with a lower back injury, the Aussies will field a heavily weakened squad in the tourney.

India, meanwhile, only have to worry about the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah. His absence from the tournament was confirmed recently, causing a massive blow to India's hopes as they do not have enough experience in their pace-bowling department. And the leader in Bumrah's absence, Mohammed Shami has only just returned from injury himself.

At the outset, it appears Australia would be the worse off among the two teams given the sheer number of players they have had to lose. However, to discount Bumrah's role in the current Indian team would be a grave injustice, and many believe that his loss is equal to losing three of your finest players; India rely heavily on the 2024 ICC Player of the Year.

In the Gujarat speedster's absence, India will have to fall back upon the returning Shami and young Arshdeep Singh, who will be playing his first major ICC tournament in the 50-over format. Delhi seamer Harshit Rana, all of 12 first-class matches old, found himself named as Bumrah's replacement while India also included Varun Chakravarthy in the squad in opener Yashasvi Jaiswal's place.

Australia will miss their three key pacers and two all-rounders the most

It must have been a sad day for Jaiswal, who was first named in the squad for the eight-nation tournament but later withdrawn in favour of Chakravarthy, who, incidentally became the fifth spinner in the squad alongside Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.

Both Rana and Chakravarthy ply their trade for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, previously mentored by Gautam Gambhir, and it has been claimed in a PTI report that they were recommended by the latter to the team. Mohammed Siraj, who was among India's best limited-overs bowlers in 2023 (44 wickets in 25 matches), was unfortunate to see the axe fall upon him, although he would have been ideal to replace Bumrah in the squad.

India's balance looks a little off at the moment, with Shami the only experienced pacer in the squad. All-rounder Hardik Pandya will now be expected to step in to play the role of the leader when needed, as he did in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Australia's case is similar to an extent.

Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis and Spencer Johnson are expected to lead the bowling attack for them in the tournament, with former captain Steve Smith returning to the helm. The Kangaroos' batting core looks intact, with Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Inglis hoping to blaze away and set the competition on fire.

Both these teams - India and Australia - will feel that they have lost their balance in the bowling department, with their respective batting units almost wholly untouched by injuries. However, that is not entirely the case for the Baggy Greens, who will have to make do without the presence of two key, burly all-rounders in their batting lineup: Marsh and Stoinis.

India will dearly miss Bumrah in the Champions Trophy, but Australia clearly have bigger worries. It will be a miracle for the world champions to qualify for the knockout stages of this tournament, especially since they will have to face England, South Africa and Afghanistan in the group stage.