India’s right-arm seamer Mohammed Shami was named in the ODI squad after more than a year as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday (January 18) announced the squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy which is scheduled to begin on February 19 in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Shami has also been included in the T20I squad for the five-match series against England. The speedster had made an impressive comeback to competitive cricket, having last featured in the ODI World Cup 2023 final.
Following ankle surgery and overcoming a series of setbacks, he returned to action for Bengal in a Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in November.
Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the side and right-hand batter Shubman Gil will be his deputy. There are two wicketkeeper-batters in the squad who are KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.
In the batting department along with Rohit, Rahul, Pant and Gill, there will also be likes of stalwart batter Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer in the line-up.
Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar are the all-rounders picked for the mega event. In the spin department, Men in Blue have included the likes of experienced left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav who will get support from Axar, Jadeja, and Sundar.
Shami will get support from Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh in the fast-bowling. The big names missing from the team are wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson and right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj.
The newly appointed BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia also arrived to attend the team selection meeting for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Mumbai.
The freshest challenge awaiting India is the ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 19 till March 9. It will be hosted by Pakistan and UAE, with India playing its matches in UAE under a hybrid model.
The eight-team tournament will feature 15 50-over matches and will be played across Pakistan and in Dubai. The biggest match of the tournament between two arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on February 23. India will start its campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. India’s last league match will be against New Zealand on March 2. The Rohit Sharma-led side will play all their matches in Dubai
Group A of the tournament features current Champions Trophy holders and hosts Pakistan, along with India, New Zealand and Bangladesh, while Group B features Cricket World Cup 2023 champions Australia, alongside Afghanistan, England and South Africa.
India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.
Before the ICC Champions Trophy, India will play a three-match ODI series against England which will be kickstarting on February 6. The squad for this series is the same as that for the ICC Champions Trophy but there is one change Harshit Rana will play in place of Jasprit Bumrah.
Before the ODIs, a five-match T20I series against England will start from January 22 onwards.
The five-match T20I series will commence on January 22 in Kolkata. The second and third matches will be held on January 25 and 28 in Chennai and Rajkot, respectively. The fourth game of the series will be played on January 31 in Pune. Mumbai will host the final match of the T20I series on February 2.
(With inputs from ANI)
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