Indian cricket team has been announced for the most awaited ICC Champions Trophy to be held in England next month. The 15 member squad has been announced by the BCCI (Board of Control For Cricket in India) today.
India, the defending champions will be playing their first game on June 4 against the rivals Pakistan. India has never lost a game against Pakistan in an ICC tournament and let’s pray that the legacy continues.
India’s 15 Member Squad For ICC Champions Trophy, 2017
BCCI has announced the 15 member squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. There are no surprises in the squad but a lot of youngsters who have performed well lately in the domestic season as well as IPL have not been included.
MSK Prasad, the chief selector said that youngsters like Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav were also considered. Apart from them, the big guns Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik were also not included in the 15 member squad. MSK Prasad said that they will be grooming Rishabh Pant just like Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been groomed. India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Mohammed Shami.
The Players To Look Out For
There are no surprises in the squad selected for the ICC Champions Trophy. There are some additions to the squad you must look out for:
Manish Pandey: Manish Pandey aka Pandey Ji is a stylish and a world class batsman who also plays for KKR. The 27-year-old has performed exceptionally in the ongoing IPL season which as a result helped him get a call for the ICC Champions Trophy. Pandey Ji has played 12 ODIs and has scored 261 runs including a century. If Pandey Ji is included in the playing XI then the team will have a more strong middle order line up
Rohit Sharma: Rohit Sharma aka Hit-Man Sharma is back in action and will possibly open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan, the Gabbar. Rohit Sharma is leading Mumbai Indians in the ongoing IPL. Rohit’s captaincy has helped Mumbai Indians secure a place in the playoffs in the IPL 10. Hit-Man was also a part of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy winning squad. He was out of action due to a thigh surgery and last played for India against New Zealand in October 2016. The fans have a lot of expectations from him and we are sure that Rohit Sharma will definitely score big in the ICC Champions Trophy, 2017.
Mohammed Shami: Mohammed Shami has been in and out of the squad due to injuries. Shami has an ability to swing the ball both ways and he’s done and troubled a lot of batsmen with his swing and pace in the past. Shami is currently playing for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL 10 and is now a part of Indian cricket team for 2017 Champions Trophy. Though we haven’t seen some good spells from him this IPL but we are sure that he will be performing well on England’s fast pitches.
Shikhar Dhawan: Shikhar Dhawan’s inclusion in the 15 member squad was quite surprising. Though Shikhar has given a good start to the Sunrisers Hyderabad this season but he hasn’t been consistent. Gabbar also struggled when he last played for India. We know that Dhawan is capable of frustrating the opposition’s bowling attack and we hope that the fans will again witness Dhawan’s match winning performances. Not to forget, Dhawan was the highest run getter (363) and was also adjudged as Man of Series in 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
It was surprising that Suresh Raina was not included in the 15 member squad. Raina did fail to score runs in the past while playing for India but he has definitely played some match winning innings in the ongoing IPL season. Raina is the second highest run-getter in IPL 10 with 434 runs in 12 matches and has also completed 4500 runs in IPL. Hopefully, we will see Suresh Raina in the blue jersey very soon for Champions Trophy matches.
India’s Schedule In The ICC Champions Trophy 2017
The Indian team will be playing two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh on 28th May and 30th May respectively.
Group A
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- England
- New Zealand
Group B
- India
- Pakistan
- South Africa
- Sri Lanka
India will be taking on Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa on 4th June, 8th June and 11th June respectively. The final will be played on 18th June 2017 at The Oval, London.
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