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Fans online have posted several memes ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which will be hosted by Pakistan. However, Team India will play their matches in Dubai as they decided against traveling to the neighboring country. The tournament will commence on Wednesday (February 19) with a clash between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi.
Several star players are missing the Champions Trophy due to injury issues and personal reasons. World Champions Australia will be without their captain, Pat Cummins, who failed to recover in time from an ankle injury he sustained during the BGT 2024-25 Test series against India. His bowling partners, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, will also miss the eight-nation tournament.
A back injury forced all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to be on the sidelines. Another Australian all-rounder, Marcus Stoinis, retired from ODI cricket after initially being named in the squad. South Africa will be without their express pacers Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee at the Champions Trophy due to fitness issues.
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Team India bowling spearhead and ICC Cricketer of the Year 2024, Jasprit Bumrah, has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy after failing to recover from a back injury he suffered during the Sydney Test in January. England and Pakistan will also miss the services of exciting youngsters, Jacob Bethell and Saim Ayub, respectively.
Fans took note of all the developments and shared memes on social media platforms. One of the memes read:
"I've no fear, but that thing, it scares me."
Here are some other memes:
"Other bowlers will find it very hard to replicate"- Sanjay Manjrekar on impact of Jasprit Bumrah's absence for India in ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar recently analyzed the impact of Jasprit Bumrah's absence for Team India during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. He felt that it was not a surprise as the team management made contingency plans by giving rookie pacer Harshit Rana some game time.
However, he felt that Bumrah's ability to bail out India from difficult situations would be hard to replicate for other bowlers. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar said:
"Bumrah's absence is not an event. It's not like suddenly India have realized that they will be without Bumrah. Somewhere, they were all aware that it's going to be touch and go and India made preparations accordingly. Harshit Rana's emergence and Arshdeep, who had a great T20 series; Mohammed Shami slowly getting fit."
He added:
"When Bumrah comes in, the crunch moments in the big games are taken care of. He just makes sure that India are back in the game in the crunch moments. That ability very few bowlers have. And that is what India will miss. India will not suddenly look like a weak side, but these big moments in matches where Bumrah would get India back in a winning position, the other bowlers will find it very hard to replicate."
Do you agree with Sanjay Manjrekar's views above? Let us know your opinions in the comments section.
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