Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah will not feature in the Blues' must-win match against Nepal in the Asia Cup 2023 in Kandy on Monday (September 4).
Rohit Sharma-led India will greatly miss the services of the 29-year-old as he returned to Mumbai for personal reasons on Sunday.
Bumrah has no fitness issues, he is completely fit and will be back for the Super Four stage if India secure their place after beating Nepal, confirmed a BCCI official.
The pacer recently marked his return to international cricket against Ireland last month after staying on the sidelines for almost a year due to a recurring back injury.
Bumrah is India's primary pacer and one of the most important personalities in the dressing room and his importance was described by the head coach Rahul Dravid before the Asia Cup.
"Jasprit is someone who we have missed a lot, over the last two years he has not played too much games,” head coach Rahul Dravid had said ahead of the Asia Cup.
“We will ease him into it slowly. It was nice for him to get those overs in the tour of Ireland. We have a whole month to build him up before the World Cup."
Under his absence, pacer Mohammad Shami is likely to start for the Blues' important group match against Nepal — who are playing their first-ever Asia Cup.
Although Bumrah didn't get to bowl during India's encounter with the arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday as the match was abandoned due to rain, he contributed with the bat by scoring 16 off 14 balls including three boundaries. He was the third top-scorer for his side.
Batting first, The Blues were dismissed for 266 runs as Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya scored fifties and brought their side back in the game after India had slipped to 66-4 inside 15 overs.
Pandya (87 off 90) and Kishan (82 off 81) added 138 runs in 141 balls for the fifth wicket.
All the wickets of the Indian batters were taken by the Pakistani pacers.
Afridi took four while Rauf and Shah took three wickets each with the latter bowling an economical spell of 36-3 in 8.5 overs.