Would have preferred Dinesh Karthik in the Champions Trophy 2017 squad, says Hemang Badani

After much dilly-dally, the BCCI finally announced India’s 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy 2017, set to be held in England in less than a month’s time. The core of the team stays is the same as the one that won the title in 2013: although this one will be under a different captain, this being skipper Virat Kohli’s first assignment at a major ICC event.

Our cricket expert, Hemang Badani, had picked his squad for the Champions Trophy 2017 a week back, and chosen a fairly similar squad, with only one difference from the MSK Prasad led selection committee.

Sportskeeda spoke to the former India batsman after the team came out, and he gave a brief assessment of the selection:

“A good side has been picked according to the conditions in England. Shikhar Dhawan is a reasonable choice as an opener, whereas Yuvraj Singh has been backed by his recent form.

The Indian pacers selected in the side consists of Jasprit Bumrah, the toe-crusher specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has added a few notches of pace, and the much improved Umesh Yadav.

“The bowling line-up is great and looks in top form. Hardik Pandya can be the fourth seamer in the XI after Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav”.

There has been a re-emergence of a lot of Gautam Gambhir fans, who have backed his performances on Indian pitches as a case for his selection in the Indian team. Badani, however, believes that the 34-year old would have been tested in England’s swinging conditions.

“Ajinkya Rahane is a better pick than Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir because of his superior technique. Gambhir, with his open stance, and Uthappa, with his problems outside the off stump, might have struggled in conditions there”.

“I would have preferred Dinesh Karthik over Mohammed Shami, the reason being that Karthik has been in tremendous form in the domestic circuit.

“Rishabh Pant has been in superb form in the domestic circuit, and has been showing instances of it in the IPL as well, but Badani believes that the 19-year old still has a long way to go in his career and needs to wait”.

“Guys like Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant will get their time. It is bound to happen, they just need to be patient”.

“I would wish the team the best of luck for their campaign in England”.

You can read all of Hemang Badani’s articles for Sportskeeda here.