The Indian cricket team slumped to a humiliating 1-3 series loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. However, the focus now shifts to white-ball cricket with England travelling to India and the Champions Trophy 2025 taking place in February after a series of controversies. According to a report by Times of India, the 15-member provisional squad for the competition will be announced by January 12 with the team allowed to make changes till February 13. The competition will start on February 19.
“All teams need to submit their provisional squads by January 12 but (are) allowed to make changes till February 13. It is up to the teams whether they want to announce the squad or not as the International Cricket Council (ICC) will release the submitted squads only on February 13,” an ICC official told TOI.
The report further claimed that players in fray for Champions Trophy are expected to be included in the squad for the three-match ODI series against England with Jasprit Bumrah being the only exception. While Rohit is expected to lead the side in the competition, Bumrah is reportedly going to be his vice-captain unless there are any injury concerns.
That will be a big blow to all-rounder Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul who have previously served as Rohit’s deputy in ODIs. However, with Bumrah emerging as a major captaincy option, the decision can be one taken by the selectors keeping the future in mind.
According to the report, Arshdeep Singh and Shreyas Iyer will be in contention for a spot in the ODI squad after good show in domestic cricket.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh has urged the BCCI to end the “superstar culture” in the team and pick players for future assignments solely on the basis of performance and not on reputation.
Harbhajan’s stinging remarks came after India’s 1-3 Test series defeat to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
“There is a superstar culture which has developed. We don’t need superstars, we need performers. If the team has them (performers), it will move forward. Whoever wants to become a superstar should stay at home and play cricket there,” the spin great said on his YouTube channel.
“There is a tour of England coming up. Now everyone has started talking about what will happen in England, who will go, who will not go. For me, it is a simple matter. Only players who are performing should go. You can’t keep picking players on their reputation.
“If you do that, then you should take Kapil Dev sir and Anil bhai also. Here, the BCCI and the selectors will have to be firm and act tough. I don’t think that the superstar attitude is taking the team forward.”
(With PTI inputs)
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