3 areas where India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad is better than the 2017 team

Team India's 15-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has landed in Dubai. The Men in Blue will be led by Rohit Sharma, while his opening partner Shubman Gill will be the vice-captain. India will go into the Champions Trophy high on confidence, having thumped a strong England side 3-0 at home recently.

From the provisional squad picked for Champions Trophy 2025, Team India have made a couple of changes. Lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to a lower back injury and has been replaced by young pacer Harshit Rana. Also, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was left out in favor of spinner Varun Chakaravarthy.

India won the Champions Trophy for the second time under MS Dhoni in 2013. They made it to the final in the previous edition in 2017, but went down to arch-rivals Pakistan in the summit clash. As we build up to the latest edition of the ICC event, we analyze three areas where India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad is better than the 2017 team.

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#1 India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad has all-rounders with better ability

India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad is much stronger in the all-round department as compared to the team picked for the 2017 edition. In the tournament held eight years back, the Men in Blue only had two proper all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and batter Kedar Jadhav could chip in with the bat and ball respectively.

In contrast, Team India have four genuine all-rounders in their Champions Trophy 2025 squad. Pandya and Jadeja have retained their spots from the 2017 edition. However, India have been boosted by the presence of Axar Patel and Washington Sundar in recent years. Like Pandya and Jadeja, Axar and Sundar are also good enough to win games with both and ball.

Axar, in particular, has proved to be a big asset to the team. While he is reliable with his left-arm spin and can bowl in various phases, he has also proved himself at a batter. The southpaw has been used as a floater and has tasted a reasonable amount of success. As for Sundar, he has been in and out of the team due to injury issues, but there is no doubting his ability with both bat and ball.

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#2 Wicket-taking spinners

Kuldeep Yadav (right) could be crucial with the ball in hand. (Image Credits: Getty Images)

This is another key area where India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad appears stronger than the 2017 outfit. In the previous edition held in England, the Men in Blue had Ashwin and Jadeja as their main spinners, with Jadhav and Yuvraj as part-time options. While Ashwin and Jadeja are quality bowlers, they have always been restrictive options in the one-day format.

Shifting focus to India's 2025 Champions Trophy squad, the selectors have gone for attacking options in left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and leg-spinner Chakaravarthy. Kuldeep has an excellent record in the one-day format, having claimed 174 wickets in 108 matches at an average of 26.22 and an economy rate 5, with seven four-fers and two five-fers to his credit.

Chakaravarthy has only played one ODI so far, but he has been in exceptional form in the T20I format. The 33-year-old has also impressed in List A cricket. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, picking up 18 wickets in six matches for Tamil Nadu, averaging 12.16 at an economy rate of 4.36. Team India will back him to come good in the Champions Trophy 2025.

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#3 Rohit Sharma 2.0 is a lot more lethal

Current Team India captain Rohit had an impressive Champions Trophy 2017 campaign. He finished as the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, behind opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (338). In five innings, the Hitman smashed 304 runs at an average of 76 and a strike rate of 86.85, with one ton and two fifties.

Rohit might not be able to replicate those stats in the 2025 edition. He could, however, prove to be a lot more lethal given how the opening batter has modified his game to suit the needs of the team. The 37-year-old has batted with a lot more intent in ODIs over the last couple of years. His assaults at the top of the order played a massive role in India's excellent 2023 World Cup campaign.

From his ODI debut in June 2007 to December 2022, Rohit had a strike rate of 89.42 from 228 innings. Since the start of 2023, the right-handed batter has a strike rate of nearly 120 from 32 innings. Rohit has made it clear that this is the way he is going to bat in one-dayers. If it comes off, India stand a great chance of winning the Champions Trophy 2025 and adding to their ICC glory.