2017 ICC Champions Trophy: India's probable playing XI

Pacers

This might be the first time in the history of that an Indian team is going into an ICC tournament with the fans having more faith in the bowlers than the batsmen. All the four fast bowlers in the squad are in terrific form and the team management will have a huge headache in picking the right men to do the job for them.

Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami are fighting for the three remaining spots in the XI and it is certain that Bumrah is set to feature in the XI without a second thought. The Gujarat pacer is one of the best death bowlers going around at the moment and is very important for India’s chances in the tournament.

Whenever Mohammad Shami has played ODIs for India, he brings out his best. He has played his last ODI match for India in 2015 and in spite of that, he might be included in the playing XI.Shami is someone who picks wickets at regular intervals and controls the run flow. He has a great yorker in his armoury and it is one of the reasons why he is very good at the death.

India’s best bowler in the Test season, Umesh Yadav is set to miss out from the XI as the other bowlers slightly edge him out in the limited-over formats. In all likelihood, Bhuvenshwar Kumar, the winner of the purple cap in the for the second consecutive season will get the nod alongside Bumrah and Shami.

He is very good with the new ball and has improved a lot as a death bowler. Along with Bumrah and Shami, Bhuvi forms a deadly combo in the death overs as all these three bowlers are capable of hitting the yorker length at will and have some variations in their armour.

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Probable XI:

The form of their batsmen must be a concern for the team management but all are experienced enough to come good when needed. With India set to play just a maximum of five matches in the tournament, the team management won’t tinker a lot with the playing XI.

India might go in with the Champions Trophy with six specialist batsmen and five specialist bowlers, the same combination as the 2013 edition. If they want some depth in batting, the team management might be tempted to include Hardik Pandya in the XI in place of one of the fast bowlers. With the conditions in England set to favour the batsmen, India might go in with five specialist bowlers rather than picking Pandya, who is yet to prove himself with the ball at the International level.

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The Indian playing XI is all but settled and it will be surprising if the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Dinesh Karthik get a chance in the XI unless a member of the playing XI suffers an injury. The Men in Blue are going into the tournament with a strong squad and have all the boxes ticked to defend their Champions trophy crown.

India’s probable playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami.