Shami, Pant to be benched in Sanjay Bangar’s India playing XI for Champions Trophy 2025

Ajit Agarkar led the selection committee that chose India’s team for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma will captain the 15-man team for the Men in Blue’s match in Dubai, with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant serving as the team’s chosen wicketkeeping options.

Cricket commentators have begun selecting their best playing combinations for the Indian side for the showcase tournament after the team underwent significant changes after playing consecutive finals in the previous two Champions Trophy editions. Via Star Sports, former Indian cricket player and batting instructor Sanjay Bangar has joined the conversation and offered his best playing XI for the team captained by Rohit Sharma.

There were several unexpected selections, as the former cricket player turned commentator chose to bench Mohammed Shami and select Arshdeep Singh

The winning combination, while also keeping KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batter ahead of Rishabh Pant.

Bangar claims that star batsman Virat Kohli would occupy his number three position, while Rohit and Shubman Gill will begin the batting. The seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya, Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer all find a place in the middle order. Furthermore, the Indian team’s spinning three consists of all-rounder Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav. Shami will not be able to play because there will only be two top speed options: Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.

Notably, India advanced to the finals of the Champions Trophy competition in 2017 while Kohli was captain. India and Pakistan, the reigning champions and one of the two hosts of this year’s main event, will face battle in an exciting match on February 23.