Team India's 2025 Champions Trophy squad: 3 interesting selection decisions

Team India announced their 15-member 2025 Champions Trophy squad on Saturday, January 18. The Men in Blue squad was named by Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar in the presence of skipper Rohit Sharma at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and was followed by a press conference.

Apart from skipper Rohit, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal were picked as frontline batters, while Rishabh Pant has been included as the keeper-batter. The Men in Blue named Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar as their all-rounders.

Shifting focus to the bowling department, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been named in the Champions Trophy squad. However, Agarkar admitted that a clear picture of his availability will only emerge in the build-up to the ICC event. Pacer Mohammad Shami and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav also find a place.

With Team India's provisional squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy being announced on Saturday, we take a look at three interesting selection decisions.

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#1 Four all-rounders in 15-member squad

Ravindra Jadeja has been picked in the Champions Trophy squad despite his poor recent form in ODIs. (Image Credits: Getty Images)

Team India have picked as many as four all-rounders in their 15-member squad. Apart from Pandya and Axar, Sundar and Jadeja have also been included in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad. The decision to include as many as four all-rounders is perhaps an indication of the fact that the think tank is still not confident of the top and middle-order batting.

After finishing runners-up in the 2023 ODI World Cup, the Men in Blue only played three one-dayers in Sri Lanka in 2024. While the first match ended in a tie, the visitors lost the next two games. India suffered shocking batting collapses in all three games as, barring skipper Rohit, none of the other batters could make a significant impact, particularly against Sri Lanka's spinners.

Rohit endured a horrendous second half in red-ball cricket in 2024. He will undoubtedly be under pressure even though the Indian captain will be featuring in white-ball cricket. Gill, Kohli, Shreyas and Rahul all struggled in Sri Lanka. And although it has been a while since the series concluded, the batting collapses might have been at the back of the selectors' minds.

The question that arises is - have Team India adopted a conservative approach by picking as many as four all-rounders in their Champions Trophy squad? Could they have been a bit bolder? Someone like a Karun Nair could have been rewarded for his Vijay Hazare Trophy exploits. His inclusion in place of Jadeja, who seems past his prime, would have strengthened the batting department.

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#2 No place for Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj is a somewhat surprising exclusion. (Image Credits: Getty Images)

The exclusion of pacer Mohammed Siraj from India's Champions Trophy squad is another interesting move. The Men in Blue have gone for Bumrah, Shami and Arshdeep as their three frontline pacers, while Pandya would be the pace bowling all-rounder. In case, Bumrah fails to pass the fitness test, Siraj might still make a comeback into the squad, but his exclusion is bound to be debated.

The 30-year-old right-arm pacer has a highly impressive record in the one-day format. In 44 matches, he has picked up 71 wickets at an average of 24.04 and an economy rate of 5.18, with two four-fers and one five-fer. Siraj lost out to left-arm pacer Arshdeep, who adds variety to the attack and also excelled during the three-match series in South Africa in December 2023.

Speaking of Siraj's exclusion from the Champions Trophy squad at the press conference, Indian captain Rohit explained:

"We are not sure of Bumrah and so we picked a squad where we had options of players who can bowl up front and at the back end. If Bumrah is not there we wanted Arshdeep (Singh) to do it.

“That is where we felt Siraj's effectiveness comes down when he is not taking the new ball. It is unfortunate he is missing out, but we had to get guys who can perform a certain role. I feel we have players who can bowl with new ball, bowl in the middle and at the end,” the 37-year-old added.

Amid doubts over Bumrah's fitness, India have included Harshit Rana as cover in the squad for the ODI series against England at home, which will be played ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.

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#3 Rishabh Pant over Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson has been left out of India’s Champions Trophy squad. (Image Credits: Getty Images)

Pant's selection in the one-day squad as the keeper-batter over Sanju Samson was on expected lines. Then again, one needs to feel for the latter who has done nothing wrong to be left out, although there were reports that his decision to skip the Vijay Hazare Trophy might have played a role in his non-inclusion.

In 16 ODI, Samson has scored 510 at an average of 56.66 (five not outs) and a strike rate of 99.60, with one hundred and three fifties. In his last ODI for India, the Kerala stumper had slammed 108 off 114 balls against South Africa in Paarl in December 2023, with the aid of six fours and three sixes.

In comparison, Pant has 871 runs from 31 ODIs at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 106.21, with one hundred and five fifties. Barring the brilliant ton in Manchester in 2022, he hasn't done much on note in ODIs in recent times. Even before his car accident, he was inconsistent in white-ball cricket.

Since the start of 2022, Pant has one hundred and two fifties to his credit from 10 innings. The southpaw was disappointing in the 2024 T20 World Cup as well. Pant is India's frontline keeper in Tests without doubt, but has he done enough in white-ball cricket to keep Samson out of the Champions Trophy squad?