ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Five areas of concern for India's squad

Lack of ODIs

Not many Indian players have too many ODIs under their belt since January 2016

Among all members of the current squad, MS Dhoni has played the most ODIs since the start of 2016. Dhoni has played 16 while Kohli has played 13 and Rohit Sharma has played 10. Contrast this with the numbers that star batsmen from other teams have played and you will start to notice a worrying trend.

David Warner has scored over 1,700 runs in 28 ODIs while Steve Smith has played 31 ODIs and has nearly 1,500 runs to his name in the same period. Joe Root has played 22 ODIs while Kane Williamson has played 25 as both have plenty of games under their belts in the build-up to the Champions Trophy.

This has nothing to do with the players but a lot to do with the schedule in the lead up to the tournament. After all, you can’t play ODIs if your team aren’t scheduled to play but the fact that they have played so few games in the format that they will compete in, in the build-up to the tournament, is a concern.

As is the fact that Ashwin has played just 5 ODIs since January 2016 and Yuvraj Singh made his ODI comeback in January 2017 and has played just three. While every member of the squad, aside from Ashwin will have taken part in the IPL ahead of the Champions Trophy, they are still two very different formats and adjusting to them won’t be straightforward. Especially when you have players like Shami, who haven’t played an ODI in over two years.