After the very long tour of Australia for almost two months, which ended on a somewhat sad note, the focus now shifts to white-ball cricket for the Indian men’s cricket team. The 2024 T20 World Cup winners will play the first of five matches at home against England, starting January 22, in Kolkata, before going on to play three one-day internationals against the England team as well. These ODIs-into which have been scheduled at Nagpur, Cuttack, and Ahmedabad on February 6, February 9, and February 12, respectively-will prepare India for the ICC Champions Trophy edition in 2025.
The ninth edition of Champions Trophy will be conducted from February 19 to March 9. The eight-team competition will have 10 matches at three venues in Pakistan-Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi-and some matches involving the Indian team will take place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India will kick off its campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh and follow it up with the high-voltage encounter against Pakistan on February 23.
Before the commencement of the Champions Trophy, which is returning after eight years, BCCI will announce India’s squad of 15 for the tournament latest by January 12.
With Rohit Sharma at the helm, India would most likely win the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. After being woefully out of form in India’s last three Test series, he will now open in the premier ICC event. It’s interesting to see whether India’s first-choice opening batter in Test cricket, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was part of the T20 World Cup 2024 squad, gets a chance to make his place in the squad for the Champions Trophy. The 23-year-old left-handed batter has yet to make his debut in the 50-over format for India.
Most probably, Shubman Gill will accompany Rohit as an opening pair. However, should Jaiswal be selected, he could play as the second opener.
Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul made over 500 runs in the ODI World Cup 2023, and they are now confirmed names for the Champions Trophy too along with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, but the status of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav is still unclear.
Bumrah misses the second innings of the fifth Test against Australia due to a back spasm, and no official information regarding his availability has been released. It has been reported that, if the injury becomes Grade 3, it requires three to minimum months to rest and undergo rehabilitation programs.
On the other hand, he has been out of action since October of the year 2024, undergoing surgery for groin injury in November 2024. He still hasn’t started bowling, placing doubtful chances on him for the ICC event.
But Mohammed Shami would hopefully be picked for the event since he has not played for India since the ODI World Cup 2023 final and made a splendid comeback in domestic cricket. Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Axar Patel are likely included in the Champions Trophy squad.
Rishabh Pant is definitely in the books for selection, but the same cannot be said for all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who has played really well across three ODIs and five Tests so far.
India’s likely squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
