The Champions Trophy 2025 is the next big ICC event starting from February 19. Pakistan are the official hosts of the tournament and the defending champions. However, India will play all their matches in Dubai as BCCI have clearly expressed their intentions of not travelling to Pakistan.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is likely to reveal the 15-member team by the end of this week, ahead of the January 12 deadline set by the ICC for provisional squad submissions. Teams can change their provisional squads until February 13, giving the management enough time to finalise their squad.
India ended as the finalists of the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017. They lost to Pakistan in the final to end the campaign. The Men in Blue ended their ICC title drought by winning the T20 World Cup last year. However, they last won the ICC Champions Trophy more than a decade ago in 2013.
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The BCCI have already started their preparations for choosing the squad for the tournament. The focus will be on the trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit BUmrah and getting all of them to play in the series.
Jasprit Bumrah Uncertain For England Series, CT 25
Bumrah, meanwhile, has picked up a back injury which has put his participation in doubts for the tournament. He is all set to miss the home series against England. The management is keeping an eye on his fitness and whether he can return on time for the tournament.
To make up for Bumrah's absence. The BCCI selectors is keen on getting back the services of Mohamed Shami for the tournament. He has missed international cricket for 417 days since playing in the ODI World Cup 2023. The medical team is keeping a close eye on the pacer who recently underwent a heel injury. Shami is under close observation by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) medical team, with at least one NCA physio or trainer accompanying him wherever he goes.
The pacer will be playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal match to prove his fitness before the England home series. There are other players on whom the BCCI is keeping a close eye as well. Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan are the other key players in contention for a recall into the Indian side for the tournament.
