Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar had a heated debate over team selection for Champions Trophy 2025: Reports

Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar were reportedly involved in a heated debate over team selection for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025. The report states that the debate was over the middle-order positions in the batting lineup.

In the press conference for the squad announcement of Champion Trophy 2025, Agarkar said that Rishabh Pant will be the team's first-choice wicketkeeper. However, during the England series, KL Rahul kept wickets for all three matches and batted twice at number six. The batter was promoted up to bat at number five in the final game of the series.

Gambhir, in the press conference after India's 3-0 ODI series, threw his weight behind Rahul and said:

"At the moment, KL is a No.1 wicketkeeper for us, and he’s delivered for us, and see, when you’ve got two wicketkeepers in this squad, you can’t play both the wicketkeepers with the kind of quality we’ve got. Hopefully, whenever he (Pant) gets that opportunity, he should be ready for it. That’s all I can say at the moment. Right now, KL is the one who’s going to start.”

According to the aforementioned report, there was a heated debate on Shreyas Iyer's spot in the playing XI between Agarkar and Gambhir. Iyer would have had to sit out in the first ODI against England had Virat Kohli been fit to play. However, Kohli suffered a knee injury, which paved the way for Iyer to get into the playing XI. The Mumbai cricketer justified his selection with two 50+ scores in three ODIs against England.

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India to kick off their Champions Trophy 2025 against Bangladesh

Placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, India will be playing their tournament opener against the Bangla Tigers on February 20. Thereafter, the Men in Blue will take on Pakistan on February 23 followed by New Zealand on March 2. India will play their matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

India are the joint most successful team alongside Australia in the history of the tournament. India won the Champions Trophy twice in 2002 and 2013, while Australia won the tournament in 2006 and 2009.