The Indian men’s team will start as the pre-tournament favorites for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 beginning Wednesday, February 19, with Pakistan, the defending champions, taking on New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi. The Rohit Sharma-led side, a member of Group A of the Champions Trophy, will begin its campaign against Bangladesh at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday (February 20) and face deadly rivals Pakistan at the same venue on Sunday, February 23. On March 2, India’s last and final group stage match will be played at Dubai against New Zealand.
In this return ICC tournament after eight years, the Indian selectors have picked five spinners and three fast bowlers in the 15-member squad. Several former greats and experts of the game were skeptical of India’s squad configurations, and on the eve of the start of the tournament, former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik hinted that having five spinners could be overkill.
“First thing, let these two openers be addressed,” said Karthik. “If, in case, one of them gets injured, Yashasvi can always come into the picture for a replacement or whatever, or he could just play if it is for a match, then KL Rahul is always an option to open. That’s not going to be the matter at all; they are not going to be too stressed about it. Now, 5 spinners, I personally feel, is a bit too much. 4 could have been plenty, in my opinion. And that is where I see it shows a little bit of, I would not say confusion which is probably too strong a word, but rather an unsureness around what exactly to do after they had announced a squad and then added an extra spinner for an opener,” Karthik said.
The 2013 Champions Trophy-winning squad member also expressed his opinion about picking Harshit Rana over Mohammed Siraj as a replacement for Jasprit Bumrah. Karthik said that Harshit bowled exceedingly against the English and was backed up more by the Indian team management at the moment than Siraj.
“What I feel is the Indian camp is very impressed with Harshit Rana. I think Harshit Rana was the debate, but I feel Team India backs him right now more than Siraj,” Karthik said. “Look, if you had to go with experience, then yes, Siraj could have been the ideal choice, but I thought Harshit bowled very well against England.