The BCCI announced India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad on Saturday, January 18. The 15-member squad saw the return of Mohammed Shami back into the Indian ODI side. Jasprit Bumrah was also included in the team despite his injury concerns.
There were a few other shocking inclusions and a few shocking exclusions. However, Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma, the Indian skipper explained the rationale behind the selections and tried to explain the inclusions.
Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, and Yuzvendra Chahal were some of the key exclusions from the side. There was a debate regarding the inclusion of Sanju Samson as well.
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Head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted to pick Samson over Pant as the first-choice keeper while Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar wanted to pick Rishabh Pant. In the end, Pant was selected and Samson had to miss out. The Indian cricketer also did not participate in the Vijay Hazare Trophy which lessened his chances of selection as well.
Secondly, Gambhir wanted Hardik Pandya as the vice-captain of the side. However, the captain and the selector backed Shubman Gill and ultimately, he was named the vice-captain of the side. Pandya has a proven track record as India's captain and was even the vice-captain during India's T20 World Cup win in the Caribbean last year. Now with Gill set as vice-captain, it is expected that he will open the batting with Rohit Sharma with Yashasvi Jaiswal probably sacrificing his spot. He had a good series against Australia and was primed for his ODI debut in the Champions Trophy.
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Among the other key inclusions were Shreyas Iyer who was called back into the ODI setup. He along with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant is expected to bat in the middle-order with Virat Kohli set to bat at three. Hardik Pandya will probably bat at six but is no more the vice-captain of the series.
Talking about the bowling attack, India had decided to include a 4-man spin attack with Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. Rohit at the press conference said that the spin attack covers all bases and has the variety needed with the inclusion of Kuldeep, the chinaman.
The Indian pace attack looks bolstered with the return of Shami and Bumrah. Bumrah's inclusion in the XI will depend on how fast he recovers from his injury. Rohit explained the reason behind Siraj's exclusion as well saying that he is not as effective with the old ball as he is with the new ball.
