Two days ago, India’s squad was released for the Champions Trophy and a lot of speculation was cast on the it. The 15-member squad included the following:
Champions Trophy Squad 2025
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill(vc), Yashsavi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(†), Rishabh Pant(†), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami,Arshdeep Singh
Predicted XI (without Bumrah(out for first half of tournament due to injury)
Rohit Sharma(c)
Shubman Gill(vc)
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul(†)
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravindra Jadeja
Kuldeep Yadav
Mohammed Shami
Arshdeep Singh
With Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar likely being the backup unit. Surprisingly, there is no additional pace bowler despite Bumrah being injured. This squad can be subject to change if the national selection committee sees a reason to by February 13th. And it most likely may come from the series against England starting on January 22nd, where 5 t20 games will be played along with 3 ODIs. The squad for the t20 squad against England goes as follows:
India’s T20 Squad against England
SuryaKumar Yadav (c), Dhruv Jurel(†), Sanju Samson(†), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel(vc),Abishek Sharma,Nitish Kumar Reddy,Hardik Pandya,Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mohommed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy
Predicted XI T20
Sanju Samson(†)
Abishek Sharma
SuryaKumar Yadav (c)
Tilak Varma/Nitish Kumar Reddy
Hardik Pandya
Rinku Singh
Axar Patel(vc)
Washington Sundar
Varun Chakravarthy/Ravi Bishnoi
Arshdeep Singh
Harshit Rana/Mohammed Shami
Why India might opt for Harshit Rana over Mohammed Shami?
Something to note going into the t20 series is India have included Mohammed Shami as a option mainly because of Bumrah’s absence. However, he may not get any playing time as India maybe looking to really put Harshit Rana to the test before the Champions Trophy and having him play in as many games as possible before the Feb. 13th deadline can give selectors more of a chance to evaluate him properly. Rana did play in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and was on the winning side for the 1st Test of the series before being benched after the second test match of the series. He was also apart of the Kolkata Knight Riders journey in winning the 2024 IPL season, bowling in tandem with Mitchell Starc.
India’s ODI squad against England
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill(vc), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(†), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(†), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami,Arshdeep Singh
Predicted XI ODI
Rohit Sharma(c)
Shubhman Gill (vc)
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul((†)
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravindra Jadeja
Hashit Rana
Mohammed Shami
Arshdeep Singh
What to expect from the ODI series against England?
India will definitely be looking to try out a couple of things before the big ICC event aside from their current pace-bowling issue itself. Interestingly enough, the all-rounding department is a place of strength for them, boasting players like Pandya, Patel and Jadeja. However, a lot of doubt will be cast on Jadeja’s place on the side due to the age factor, but he seems to be a shoe-in at the moment with Sharma and Kohli’s place in the XI. If they decide to opt for Sundar over Jadeja, then it maybe because of fitness issues or simply due to Sundar’s performance over the past year in many formats of the game. He offers a lot with the ball and is coming into his own with the bat as well.
Will India roll with a 5-3-0-3 system in ODIs moving forward?
As of right now, it is very hard to say if in fact India will go with a perfect 5-3-0-3 system and that is mainly due to Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion in the squad as well as Bumrah’s injury. There maybe a slight deviation depending on if selectors decide Rana’s presence in the ODI format of the game is important. Otherwise, it may come at the cost of playing one extra pace bowler. It’s very hard to see a situation where India does not play all three all rounders in this format of the game, simply due to the fact that this probably the strongest all-rounding department India has seen in their own history for the sport of cricket. All in all it can be a situation where India do deploy a 5-3-1-2 system if Bumrah does stay out longer. Either way this is a major turning point for the country in this format of the game. Historically, they have always stuck with a 6-2-1-2 system when playing ODIs and/or some deviation around that. More can be seen from the World Cup exits from 2015 to 2023 down below:
2015 (Semi Final loss to Australia)
System: 6-2-0-3
2019 (Semi Final loss to New Zealand)
System: 6-2-1-2
2023 (Finals loss to Australia)
System: 6-1-1-3
Oddly enough, in 2011 they ended up playing a system closer to this and ended up winning the world cup and in the 2013 champions trophy. Suresh Raina despite being considered a all-rounder earlier in his career, later morphed into a pure batsman, hence why he’s viewed more of that in 2015 squad compared to the 2013 squad.
2011 (Win against Sri Lanka)
System: 5-2-1-3
2013 (Win against England)
System: 5-2-1-3
While it may not seem that important, there is a lot of evidence to suggest the 5-3-0-3 system in this format of the game and there is no denying it. Hopefully, this will bring some much needed to change for India to be more successful moving forward with ODIs. The knack to always bring a extra batsman has left them in situations where it is harder to adapt as they face tougher opponents moving deeper into these ICC tournaments. Their success will primarily be dependent on trusting the ability of the 5 batsman in their playing eleven and not be tempted to bring in that extra batsman even if circumstances call for it. For example, in the 2023 world cup with Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel being injured, it would’ve made more sense to call for an all-rounding backup rather than replacing them with a extra batsman and a spin-bowler (SuryaKumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav). However, given India’s backups, it does seem as though with the presence of both Pant and Jaiswal that they will probably take a similar route if a situation like that occurs again, which by all means is not a good sign. Last but not least, Mohommed Siraj’s exclusion from the side is rather intriguing because of his success over the past two years, but management has stated some concerns related to his inability in the middle and death overs of the game, which if that is the case there should’ve been the option of brining either Harshit Rana as stated earlier or Prasidh Krishna, who actually had a pretty good game in the final test of the Border Gavasker Trophy series. If they do fall short in this tournament, all fingers may point to not bringing in a 3rd seamer after Bumrah’s injury even if was as a back-up. Do you guys agree with the decision and how will it impact their success moving forward?