Champions Trophy squad of hope: Hope Bumrah gets fit, hope Rohit & Kohli hit form, hope… | Cricket News

Towards the end of their 22-minute address, India’s captain and the chairman of selectors were asked if there was a reserve in case the injured Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t recover in time for February’s Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma muttered ‘Harshit Rana’. Ajit Agarkar didn’t follow the cue. “We are just hoping Bumrah is fit,” he said. “That’s the hope.”And that, in a nutshell, captured the essence of the team selection for the second-most important 50-over competition after the World Cup.
Sweating on the fitness of their single most important player. Punting on a young pacer, Arshdeep Singh, to fill his giant shoes while benching the former world’s top-ranked bowler in ODIs, Mohammed Siraj. And hoping another youngster Rana can step in, and not Siraj, if Bumrah doesn’t recover. Hoping that the two returning stars — Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav — continue from where they left off. And praying that the superstars with the bat, including Rohit himself, find their scoring touch.
This is an Indian team picked on hope and prayer. A strikingly different tone when compared to the last time they played a major 50-over tournament, the World Cup on home soil.
That Rohit-led team looked imperious as a marauding Shami ran in like a breeze and made the ball snake around; Bumrah sent grenades down batsmen’s feet; Ravindra Jadeja protected the 30-yard circle like his life depended on it, KL Rahul was the navigator as he set fields and meticulously advised on reviews; Rohit and Virat Kohli looked as good as they’d ever been.
They weren’t the greatest collection of talent has produced and yet, played with an aura rarely associated with Indian cricket.

💬 💬 “This squad has a lot of depth.”
Captain Rohit Sharma on #TeamIndia’s squad for #ChampionsTrophy 2025.@ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/sYMBWNpchR
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 18, 2025
As the focus shifts to the Champions Trophy, the main star cast continues to remain the same. But there are questions — either over form or fitness — against each of the 2023 heroes.
The batting core remains largely the same as the 2023 World Cup, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (who’ll make his ODI debut) and Rishabh Pant making the cut. India will hope the batsmen will not carry their dismal red-ball form into the shorter format.
Bigger concerns, though, lie around the bowling unit. It starts with Bumrah.
Agarkar said the pacer won’t be fit until the first two ODIs against England, which implies he could return for the third match in Ahmedabad on February 12 — exactly a week before the Champions Trophy begins.
The selection committee chief added it would be ‘nicer’ if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) explained the nature of Bumrah’s injury, which forced him out of action on the final day of the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this month.
“I know he was asked to off-load for five weeks, which is early first week of February if I am not wrong,” Agarkar said. “And we will probably find out a bit more around that time. With regards to what his medical condition is, I am sure the BCCI might just put something out from the physio himself. It’s better if the medical department explains what exactly is wrong with him.”

India’s squad for the #ChampionsTrophy 2025 announced! 💪 💪
Drop in a message in the comments below 🔽 to cheer for #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eFyXkKSmcO
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 18, 2025
Apart from the asterisk against Bumrah’s name, India’s 15-man squad had no major surprises, barring the exclusion of Mohammed Siraj. This week last year, the pacer climbed to the top of the ICC ranking charts on the back of a phenomenal 2023 season where he averaged just above 20. On Saturday, he had to make way for Arshdeep.
Will this compromise the experience of the bowling unit, Rohit was asked. “Experience… it’s only Siraj who is not there. Since we are not sure about Bumrah, we wanted to pick someone who could bowl with the new ball and at the back end. With Bumrah not sure, we wanted Arshdeep to play that role,” he said.
The captain sounded confident that Arshdeep would be able to handle the ‘pressure’ and hailed Shami, who returns to the ODI set-up for the first time since the World Cup, as the ‘stalwart’ of white-ball cricket. The duo, Rohit hoped, would step in if Bumrah doesn’t get fit for the Champions Trophy.
“Arshdeep has been around the white ball circuit for a long time. I don’t feel comfortable saying he doesn’t have the experience. He can handle that pressure. Shami is a stalwart of white ball cricket.”
That the team management chose to stack the team with all-rounders — including Hardik Pandya, who like Shami comes back to the ODI team for the first time since the World Cup — meant there was space for just three pacers on the plane to Dubai, where India will play their matches.
And Siraj wasn’t one of them, Rohit added, because he loses his ‘effectiveness’ a bit when he isn’t taking the new ball. “Shami, we saw what he did with the new ball. That’s where we feel that Siraj’s effectiveness comes down a bit… if he is not going to take the new ball. We discussed it at length. We are only taking three seamers there because we are taking all-rounders with us,” Rohit said. “It’s unfortunate but we had no option but to get the guys who could perform a certain role. You need to cover all three facets (new ball, middle overs and the back end).”

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