Champions Trophy 2025 Team India Strongest Playing 11 on Paper
Rohit Sharma to lead a strong squad in the strongest possible playing 11 on paper for Team India for the Champions Trophy (CT) 2025.
The ICC Champions Trophy – one of the most prestigious ODI tournaments is going to make a comeback after a gap of 8 years. It is a tournament that finds its relevance after the ODI World Cup. While a World Cup involves many teams, the Champions Trophy involves only top-ranked 8 teams. The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy will see 8 teams in the form of India, England, Afghanistan, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, and Bangladesh.
The tournament is set to begin on February 19 with the final to be played on March 9. We still are a month away from the tournament, but almost all teams have already shared their official squad for the ICC Champions Trophy. The BCCI on Saturday, Jan 18 also shared the official squad for the Indian team. The 15-member squad will see Rohit Sharma as the Captain and Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the squad.
Team India have selected a strong squad for the Champions Trophy, and there is absolutely no doubt about it. The team has the right mix of players with batting as well as bowling depth. However, the only thing they would hope should go in the favour is Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness. Bumrah, though has been selected in the squad is yet to gain full fitness. But everyone is hopeful that Bumrah will gain full fitness. So, as we wait for the tournament, let’s in the meantime look at the strongest playing 11 on paper for India for the Champions Trophy 2025.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Official Squad List for Team India:
Batters: Rohit Sharma (c), Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli & Yashasvi Jaiswal
WKs: KL Rahul & Rishabh Pant
All-rounders: Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar
Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami
Champions Trophy 2025 Team India Strongest Playing XI:
Batting Lineup
If we talk about the batting line-up for the Indian team for the Champions Trophy 2025, it should reflect the one that played in the ODI World Cup 2023. So, expect Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to open the innings with Virat Kohli at number 3. The number 4 and number 5 should once again belong to Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul with KL Rahul donning the wicket-keeping duties.
This is a strong and proven batting lineup that has done well for Team India not only in many ODI tournaments off-late, but also in the proven tournaments like the ODI World Cup 2023. However, the only thing this lineup is missing is the presence of a left-hander, and thus the role of Axar Patel becomes very important in this lineup as a floater batter. Axar may play the role of a floater as he did in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Batting and Bowling Depth
Team India have selected four all-rounders in their squad, and three of these four will for sure be in the strongest playing 11 for Team India. India may not compromise on batting and bowling depth, hence, they will be contemplating playing 3 all-rounders in the side to give them 8 batting options, and 6 bowling options. But which of the three all-rounders will Team India select for their playing 11?
Well, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja should be the two leading all-rounders for Team India, and these two should play without a second thought as the first-choice option. But for the third all-rounder, India may mostly go for the experience of Axar Patel ahead of Washington Sundar. Axar can be used as a floater in the batting as he did in the T20 World Cup 2024, and will bowl those crucial 5-6 overs every match.
Bowling Lineup
Coming to the bowling lineup, India will see Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami as the two leading pacers in the squad. Whereas Kuldeep Yadav should be the leading spinner in the squad. With these three as the primary bowlers, India will have Hardik Pandya in the pace department, and Axar and Jadeja in the spin department. Overall, Hardik will have to bowl 8-10 over every match being the third pacer, and that shouldn’t be an issue for him.
Champions Trophy 2025 Team India Strongest Playing 11 on Paper
- Rohit Sharma (c)
- Shubman Gill
- Virat Kohli
- Shreyas Iyer
- KL Rahul (wk)
- Hardik Pandya
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Axar Patel
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Mohammed Shami
- Jasprit Bumrah
So, that’s about the strongest playing 11 on paper for the Indian team for the Champions Trophy 2025. Overall, this is a strong and proven playing 11 that is competent from almost all departments. The only thing that India will miss is the absence of a specialist fourth bowler. Depending on all-rounders for 20 overs might just be the only negative in the squad. However, minor issues are there in almost all teams, so India will have to focus on their strengths.
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Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.
Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.
Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.
