MUMBAI: The Indian team for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai and Pakistan, which starts from February 19, and the three-match ODI series at home against England preceding that will be picked in Mumbai on Saturday.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar will address a press conference at the BCCI HQ at the Wankhede Stadium after announcing the 15-man squad for the global tournament.
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Afflicted by a back injury which prevented him from bowling for a major part in the fifth and final Test at Sydney, ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to be a part of the side, unless the selectors decide to take a chance with him to see if he can indeed recover before the knockouts of the event.
India, who play all their matches in Dubai, launch their campaign against Bangladesh on Feb 20, before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on Feb 23, and then New Zealand in their final league match on March 2.
The ODIs against England are scheduled for Feb 6, 9 and 12.
Even though he is battling poor form, senior batsman Rohit Sharma, who led Team India to the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, is set to be announced as the captain of the side.
It will be interesting to see if the selectors pick veteran batsman Karun Nair, who has been in blazing form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he has scored 752 runs at an incredible average of 752 to steer Vidarbha into the VHT final with five hundreds-four on the trot-will he picked for the global tournament.
The BCCI and the selectors have emphasized on the importance of domestic cricket in recent times, but it wont be easy to make space in the ODI team for Nair.
“Whom do you drop if you have to pick Kaun in the 15? You can’t drop someone like Shreyas Iyer, who smashed a century in the 2023 ODI World Cup semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium and has been in fabulous form across formats in domestic cricket. However, there is set to be a deep discussion on Karun,” a source in the BCCI told TOI.