India must be prudent with selections and maximise their resources.
India are one of the favourites to win the Champions Trophy 2025 due to the depth of their squad. Despite Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, the Men in Blue look solid, especially in the batting department.
Their batters are seasoned campaigners who have been through such tournaments before, while Mohammed Shami’s return boosts the bowling contingent. However, India must still be prudent with selections and maximise their resources.
We look at three key playing XI decisions that could decide India’s fate in the Champions Trophy 2025.
While India tried to break the RHB chain by promoting Axar Patel to No.5 in the England series, they should revert to KL Rahul for this slot. Rahul has a magnificent record at No.5, accumulating 1299 runs at an average of 56.47 and a strike rate of 96.36 in 31 innings.
The promotion of Axar was done to counter slow bowlers who bring the ball into the RHBs, but in India’s group, other teams don’t have too many quality leg spinners, so the move might not work. Further, Rahul is equally capable against spinners, and Jadeja’s waning batting expertise means India would want more firepower in the lower order, so Axar should remain below Rahul.
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India started with Harshit Rana from one end in all three ODIs against England, but they should rather hand the new ball to Hardik Pandya. Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya should open the bowling innings for India since they are the best bowlers who can move the new ball and bring early breakthroughs from the available squad.
Harshit Rana has the pace and can bowl shorter lengths to hurry the batter and push them on the back foot, so he should be the middle-over enforcer. Using three pacers this way will extract the best out of each of them and maximise their strengths.
India’s decision to select as many as five spinners was baffling, given the recent nature of tracks in Dubai. They had the option of Mohammed Siraj, who has a fine ODI record, but the management preferred more tweakers.
However, India should not field more than three spinners because they will play on fresh surfaces where slow bowlers might not get enough assistance off the deck. India can’t depend on Hardik Pandya to consistently give 10 overs, even if he’s in good form.
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