"We have two spinners and three all-rounders" - Rohit Sharma responds to criticism over India's team selection for 2025 Champions Trophy

Team India captain Rohit Sharma defended the Men in Blue's squad selection for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Responding to criticism that India have perhaps picked too many spin bowling options for the ICC event, the Hitman stated that they have two spinners and three all-rounders in the team.

India's 15-man Champions Trophy squad features as many as five spin-bowling options - left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy and all-rounders Axar Patel (left arm spinner) , Ravindra Jadeja (left arm spinner) and Washington Sundar (off spinner).

The Men in Blue will begin their 2025 Champions Trophy campaign with a Group A clash against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday, February 20. At the pre-match press conference, Rohit played down the criticism over team selection and commented (as quoted by Business Standard):

"We have two spinners and three all-rounders. I am not looking at them as five spinners. Jadeja, Axar, Washi [Sundar] give us a lot of depth. If a team has fast bowling all-rounder, we don't say five or six pacers in a squad."

India won the Champions Trophy in 2013 and finished runners-up in the previous edition in 2017. As the ICC tournament has made a comeback after eight years, there is plenty of excitement around the same. Asked how Team India will approach the mega event, Rohit replied:

"We will play this tournament as we have played any other tournament. Playing for India means a lot to all of us. There will be times when you will miss certain players, but we have depth."

India will be without the services of lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the tournament due to a lower back injury he sustained during the Test tour of Australia. Bumrah has been replaced by pacer Harshit Rana. Meanwhile, India also brought in Chakravarthy and left out Yashasvi Jaiswal while confirming their 2025 Champions Trophy squad.

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Rohit Sharma's record in the Champions Trophy

Rohit has played 10 matches for India in the Champions Trophy. In 10 innings, he has scored 481 runs at an average of 53.44 and a strike rate of 82.50. The 37-year-old has notched up one hundred and four fifties in the ICC event.

The Hitman's best of 123* came off 129 balls against Bangladesh in Birmingham in the 2017 Champions Trophy semifinal and featured 15 fours and a six. The right-handed batter also scored 91 off 119 against Pakistan in Birmingham in 2017.