The Indian Champions Trophy squad has been announced. The Champions Trophy, a tournament that was on the verge of being scrapped, got a life after it was praised by everyone because of the less time it took to finish. 3 weeks on the whole. Questions may arise that in a world where there are lots and lots of bi-lateral series being played, with a zillion T20 franchise cricket and a couple of World Cups to boot, does the concept of Champions Trophy even has a place in the grand scheme of things? Not long ago, Champions Trophy was one more tournament where every team participated. In a sense, there was no difference between a World Cup and Champions Trophy. I don’t know when in dawned on the administrators that this tournament must be treated differently, they started to prune the number of teams to 7.
This pruning actually helps in reducing the duration of the tournament. 20 days is way better than 45 days before the fag end of any World Cup. Ofcourse, cricket is such a long game it is almost impossible to reduce the duration of any tournament to less than 30 days unless the number of teams is reduced. This is exactly what this tournament has achieved. With all the teams having announced their squad, things are getting interesting as we are just a week away from the start of the tournament.
Which brings me to the Indian squad
The Indian Test team has had a miserable 4 months with shame at home and humbled in Australia. However, the Indian ODI team cannot be said the same though the players are more or less the same. In the last ODI tournament, save for a freak 140 by Travis Head, India could have even won the World Cup. The T20 squad won the World Cup at the Caribbean in 2024. Yes, they did lose the series to Sri Lanka but on the whole, they have had a reasonable run. Moreover, the fact that the tournament itself is held in familiar environs, makes India one of the favourites.
The team
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Yashavi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
Most of these players have selected themselves. The squad resembles the ODI World Cup team of 2024.
Jaiswal has been having a good run at the international level. His claims if not to open the innings but to be selected in the squad is quite strong. He just cannot be wished away. As such, he is the only backup opener in the squad with Rahul marked for a middle-order slot. The one sour point of this squad is the selection of Gill as the vice-captain. This is not to say that he does not deserve to be in the squad. As everyone points out, he is averaging 58 in ODI and as such is a shoe-in any ODI squad.
It is just that he must not have been named as the vice-captain after his horror run in Australia and his failure to cross 40 in 5 years outside of India in Tests. Agreed, both are different formats altogether but this looks like no matter your performance or the lack of it, you will still be promoted.
Far too many injured cricketers
Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami were all injured. Kuldeep and Shami have not been playing competitive cricket for awhile now. They may get a chance to play against England in the ODI series. Their fitness is very important for the balance of the bowling attack. Bumrah will once again be vital to the bowling but will he be fit enough? Can his body take the rigours of an ODI tournament? With the all-important IPL coming up, will Rohit risk Bumrah?
The one cricketer who should have been in the squad is Sanju Samson. He has been ignored for far too long. He could have replaced Pant. Samson is capable of batting at the top as well as in the middle. One might say that there is no opening with Rohit and Gill to open, Kohli at one, Shreyas, Rahul and Pandya occupying the middle order. That is true but with Pant unlikely to be in the playing eleven, it would have made sense to have Samson who could have been a backup for any of the batsman.
It will be an interesting decision between Jadeja and Axar because I imagine Kuldeep to be the main spinner for the tournament.
On the whole, this is a balanced squad though Ashwin may lament that there is no left-hander in the top order. With Pant unlikely to be part of the eleven, there may not be any left-hander at all but that is how the dice rolls. The previous ODI tournament did not end well for India despite dominating the league stage. Let us see whether the same group can go onto win the tournament.
