5 major statements from Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma's press conference announcing Champions Trophy 2025 squad
Team India have named their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, after a considerable delay. With speculations raging across all directions, the squad announcement came across as the right opportunity to address all the rumors, and receive valuable updates ahead of the tournament.
The Men in Blue relatively played it safe, with no knee-jerk reactions or radical calls taken. The core from the 2023 ODI World Cup has been kept quite intact, as no left-field options like Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, and Nitish Kumar Reddy were considered.
Team India squad for Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd, Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja
On that note, let us take a look at five major statements from Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma's press conference announcing Champions Trophy 2025 squad.
#1 Official update provided on Jasprit Bumrah
The burning question regarding Jasprit Bumrah was unsurprisingly among the first ones to be addressed during the press conference in Mumbai. There has been no official update regarding the pacer's injury ever since he walked off the field for scans to assess a back spasm.
Speculation was constant, so much so that, the pacer himself had to address those claims on social media.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar declared that Bumrah is still recovering and will miss the ODI series against England, while he could make it in time for the Champions Trophy campaign after a period of extensive rest.
"Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to be fit for the first couple of games vs England. We are still awaiting for his fitness report. Bumrah was asked to offload for five weeks. First week of February. It will be better if the update comes from BCCI medical team," Ajit Agarkar said during the press conference (via The Hindu).
#2 Rohit Sharma addresses BCCI's new mandate; confirms availability for upcoming Ranji match
As captain of the Indian side, Rohit Sharma was asked to comment on BCCI's new guidelines, which have made domestic cricket mandatory, and a criteria for national team selection.
Rohit Sharma confirmed his availability for the upcoming Ranji match. He also bemoaned the workload arising due to three formats in international cricket and franchise cricket.
"Since the time I’ve been a regular starter in Tests, I’ve hardly had time off cricket due to the calendar. You obviously want some time off cricket," Rohit Sharma said during the press conference.
Ajit Agarkar, however, stated that the players have to follow the rules set by the governing body.
“These are just rules, not punishment. These are mature people, superstars in their own right. You have to follow rules. Lot of them have been in place in any case, maybe we’ve spoken about it now,” Agarkar added.
#3 Mohammed Siraj's absence
A glaring absence in the squad was pacer Mohammed Siraj. The pacer had played a huge role in India's run to the 2023 ODI World Cup, even reaching the summit of the rankings earlier. However, with Mohammed Shami returning, and Arshdeep Singh's versatility, Siraj has missed out on a place.
"We’re not sure about Bumrah, whether he will play or not. So we wanted someone who can bowl up front and at the back. As for Shami, what he does with the new ball. It’s an unfortunate thing he had to miss out. But we had no other option than to select guys appropriate for the designated roles," Rohit Sharma said regarding Siraj's omission.
"Arshdeep hasn’t played ODIs that much but he’s been around the white-ball cricket for quite a while now. So we’re not worried about inexperience. You can’t please everyone. At the end of the day, you pick the team that can win you games," he added.
#4 Ajit Agarkar explains Karun Nair's absence
One of the names that was heavily being linked to the squad was Karun Nair. The right-handed batter has been on a legendary run in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy for Vidarbha. Despite an astronomical average, he could not displace the incumbent candidates in the middle order.
"Someone averages 700+, those are special performances. At the moment, finding spot in this team is difficult. He has earned our attention. Conversations will be around him if someone is injured and there's a place that crops up in the squad," Agarkar said of Karun Nair.
#5 Gill's appointment as vice-captain
There has been no clear deputy in the ODI squad, with the likes of Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, and others leading on a sporadic basis in Rohit Sharma's absence. However, the management have placed faith in Shubman Gill to be the vice-captain of the ODI side.
He led the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 2024 IPL, and the national team during the tour of ZImbabwe after the 2024 T20 World Cup.
"Shubman was the vice captain in Sri Lanka anyway. You want to keep an eye on who your potential leaders are, won't read too much into it, you get feedback from the dressing room. You need to also keep your options open, and you always keep an eye out for people with leadership qualities," Agarkar said.