Indian fast bowler on Friday, January 17 provided a massive update around his fitness after he was forced to miss the fifth and final Test of the Boarder-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Sydney due to back injury.

The Bengal pacer, who has been out of action since the Sydney Test, is now likely to miss a berth in the Indian team for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, set to be played in February-March 2025.

The 28-year-old, who will miss the England T20I series after he was not named in the squad, is set to miss the three-match ODI series, followed by the Champions Trophy. The Indian pacer struggled with stiff back ahead of the Sydney Test, which led Prasidh Krishna replace him in the XI.

Akash Deep out of Champions Trophy 2025 contention with 15-day rest

However, the pacer is currently rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is yet to receive clearance to resume bowling. Speaking in an interview with news agency PTI, Akash Deep shared his fitness update, adding that he has been handed 15-day rest, thus remaining unlikely for Champions Trophy. 'All good. My recovery is on course and since I had been playing non-stop cricket for a considerable period of time, I was advised to off-load (complete rest) for 15 days. I am following the advice of NCA and once they instruct me to start bowling, I will do so," he said.

'I would be given a brief that in case I am not getting wickets, I should do the holding job at one end, slow down the game, and run-flow so that things are under control. My endeavour was to maintain discipline, bowl in good areas and wait for the batter to make a mistake…doesn't matter if the ball is new, semi-new or old," Akash Deep further added.

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However, a clarity on his participation will come on Saturday, January 18 as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is set to announce India's squad for Champions Trophy 2025. The Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue will kickstart their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20, followed by a match each against arch-rivals Pakistan (February 23) and New Zealand (March 2).

India's probable squad for ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (vc) (Subject to fitness), Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar