One year ago from today India was dealt a tremendous blow as Axar Patel had been ruled out from CWC23 with an injury. If that wasn’t enough, they would go on to lose yet another big piece in Hardik Pandya in the middle of the tournament due to injury. Despite the late tournament heroics of Mohammed Shami, these two injuries would prove to be difficult for India to overcome as they ended up losing to Australia in the finals. Now exactly a little over a year later, the sour taste of defeat has seemed to fade amongst the Indian fan base after having a flawless T20 World Cup campaign in which they remained undefeated throughout the duration of the tournament. Nonetheless, the Indians will be looking at another chance of redemption in the ODI format of the game by hoping to win 2025 Champions Trophy. The only 50-over ICC tournament until the ODI World Cup in 2027, which is almost 3 years away from today. If India do want to come out on top yet again, it will be crucial for them to have a healthy Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya as they are the backbone of the lower middle order while also providing much needed depth for both the pace and spin bowling departments respectively. If for whatever reason India finds itself to be in a similar situation to last year than they still have a meaningful backup to turn to in Nitesh Kumar Reddy, who at the age of 21 has given a lot for the national selection committee to consider, with his stellar performances already. However his lack of experience can be very worrisome as he’s not made his debut yet in the ODI format of the game. The same thing could be said for Washington Sundar except he does offer a bit more experience than NKR as he’s already played in all three formats of the game and has well-regarded performances with both the bat and the ball. In the off-colored chance India wants to opt for more experience than they will have Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube as well.
All Rounder Depth Chart:
Pace Bowling: Hardik Pandya, Nitesh Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube
Spin Bowling: Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja
Playing XI prediction:
Rohit Sharma
Yashasvi Jaiswal/Shubhman Gill
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul
Rishabh Pant
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Siraj
Jasprit Bumrah
There is little to no chance India will play more than two all-rounders. Mainly because that’s what they traditionally have gone for in ODIs. It always comes down to a spin bowler or an extra batsman. After witnessing the events of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, there will be a lot to prove for the men in blue, especially for the likes of Virat, Rohit and Jadeja. Their future will quite literally depend upon the outcome for the team in this tournament. Will they able to prolong their stay on this team past this tournament?