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India have finally unveiled their Champions Trophy 2025 squad. The showpiece event is set to take place from February 19 to March 9 in Pakistan and the UAE.
Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah missed out on the final squad due to a lower back injury. He sustained the injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia last month and has been out of action since then.
Harshit Rana has replaced Bumrah in the roster. The right-arm speedster picked three wickets in a solitary T20I appearance against England, while picking four wickets in two games in the ongoing ODI leg.
Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy has been rewarded for his impressive form in the T20I series against England, where he bagged 12 wickets in five games. He will replace Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was earlier named in India’s Champions Trophy squad. However, Jaiswal along with Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube will be the non-travelling substitutes, who could be flying to Dubai for the players, to replace players who have sustained an injury.
With the inclusion of Chakaravarthy, India have five spinners in the squad in the form of Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja. The move might have been motivated by the surface likely to be taken to use in Dubai.
Among pace-bowling options, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya are likely to be part of XI in all games.
The Rohit Sharma-led side will look to regain Champions Trophy title, having last won it in 2013. They will have the presence of prominent batters like Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to fulfill their purpose. It will be interesting to see who among KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant serves as a wicket-keeper for the Men in Blue.
India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy, 2025: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non Travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube.
Kapil Dev backs Mohammed Shami to come good in Champions Trophy
Former Indian captain Kapil Dev has expressed his support for pacer Mohammed Shami, who recently returned to international cricket after recovering from injury. In four games, Shami has returned with five wickets, with best figures of 3/25 coming in a T20I game against England in Mumbai.
Notably, Shami was the finest bowler in the 2023 World Cup with 24 wickets, where India emerged as the runner-ups. Due to his ability to perform in big tournaments, the veteran pacer was named in the Champions Trophy squad.He, however, will have an excess load to take wickets in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.
In a recent interaction with Cricket Adda, Dev maintained his confidence in Mohammed Shami’s ability and hoped that the pacer has recovered fully from the injury and ready to produce his best for the Indian team.
“It’s not that difficult to make a comeback from injury as a player has a strong mindset. However, there remains a question if he will be able to make the same impact with injury? It takes time, he will have to play a lot of matches unlike batters. If you haven’t bowled in the past six months or a year and are coming back from an injury, then it takes time to find your rhythm again. Shami has massive ability, let’s hope he comes back fully recovered and doesn’t get injured again. If a player needs more time to be fully fit, he should take it because injuries like these leave a fear in the bowler’s mind.”
India will kickoff their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh in Dubai.
