"Plan to play Yashasvi in the XI ahead of Iyer is abandoned" - Aakash Chopra slams Indian team management over 2025 Champions Trophy squad

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has slammed the Indian team management over the 2025 Champions Trophy squad selection. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the final squad on Tuesday, February 11.

Aakash Chopra took to X (formerly Twitter) to question the move to drop Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was included in the preliminary squad. He slammed the management for leaving Jaiswal out and including spinner Varun Chakravarthy in his place.

Jaiswal has now been named as a non-traveling reserve and is not a part of the main squad.

"It’s also interesting to note how quickly the plan to play Yashasvi in the XI ahead of Iyer is abandoned…to the extent that Yashasvi isn’t even a part of the CT squad," Chopra wrote on X.

Here is a look at India's final squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Non-traveling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj, Shivam Dube.

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Aakash Chopra reckons India should have had four pacers in their Champions Trophy 2025 squad

Aakash Chopra also shared his opinion about India's fast bowling attack, saying star pacer Jasprit Bumrah's absence (back injury) should have led the selectors to call Mohammed Siraj back. Siraj was left out of the initial squad. However, the selectors decided to go with an inexperienced Harshit Rana instead.

Harshit was called in as Bumrah's replacement for the ongoing ODI series against England over Siraj. He played the first two ODIs of the series as well.

The CT squad consists of three pacers — Mohammad Shami, Harshit Rana, and Arshdeep Singh. However, Chopra believes India should have had four pacers in the squad.

"I thought Bumrah’s absence will force selectors to pick Siraj. Have 4 pacers in the squad," Chopra wrote in the same tweet.

India begin their Champions Trophy campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh. They will then play Pakistan in the highly anticipated clash on February 23 before playing their final group-stage game against New Zealand on March 2.