India, Feb. 12 -- They waited as far as possible to see if they could bring a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah back on the park. But once medical experts sounded a note of caution, it was decided that it wasn't worth risking the career of India's biggest bowling weapon in the Champions Trophy. With the summer Test tour of England to follow IPL, you wouldn't want to jeopardise India's winnability. A Tuesday night conference call between India captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Bumrah wouldn't take the flight to Dubai.

The miss was as big as a football World Cup losing Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Steve Harmison. A 30-35% setback to India's title hopes, in Ravi Shastri's assessment. Ag...