Sanjay Bangar, a former Indian batting coach, recently followed suit and revealed his starting lineup for the Indian team. The Champions Trophy’s 2025 edition is quickly approaching. On Wednesday, February 19, the ninth round of the prestigious ODI tournament will start. Many pundits and former cricket players have selected their countries’ top XI based on their personal preferences during the last week.
The top three batsmen for Bangar were captain Rohit Sharma, ace batsman Virat Kohli, and vice-captain Shubman Gill in what were largely conventional selections. While Rohit recorded a return century in the series’ second game, Gill appeared to have recovered in the recently finished ODI series against England. In the last game of the series, Kohli also scored a half-century.
In the middle order, Sanjay Bangar shortlisted Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer.
After making a comeback into the national lineup following strong local results, Iyer impressed with strong performances against England. India focused on using the left-right combo, but Rahul was selected over Rishabh Pant.
The all-round spin bowlers picked were Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. Even though Axar Patel was in favor of making the XI because of his greater batsmanship compared to Sundar, Bangar notably chose Sundar over Patel. Sundar only appeared in three of England’s eight-match white-ball series.
The top spinner in the bowling assault was chosen to be the seasoned Kuldeep Yadav. The inclusion of Mohammed Shami was hardly surprising.
For those who don’t know, Shami’s ankle injury received during the 2023 World Cup prevented him from playing in the T20 World Cup in 2024. He was added to the team gradually during the limited-overs matches against England. Bangar chose to use Arshdeep Singh, a left-arm seamer who has significantly improved since entering the international stage a few years ago.
Group A includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand in addition to India. The venue for all of their matches will be Dubai’s International Cricket Stadium. They are known to be among the most powerful forces in the format, and they will be eager to step up and prove it.
Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), and Virat Bangar’s India XI for the Champions Trophy 2025
India
