There were no surprises in the Indian team picked for the ICC Champions Trophy after a 13 day delay. Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami all return to the squad post injuries. The national selectors chose to go with four specialist seamers and two specialist spinners in the squad of 15 to be led by Virat Kohli. Seniors like Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh were not picked as selectors went for the young, tried and tested most suitable for the conditions. The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played from June 1 in England. India are the defending champions.
Announcing the squad, chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma will be the openers with Ajinkaye Rahane as the back up opener. Giving an insight into team selection, Prasad said, “It was an easy team to pick, We had been having discussions over last 3-4 months, we were preparing for this tournament.”
The selectors are not worried about Ashwin returning post an injury—sports hernia—straight into the competition. Said Prasad, "It was not a serious injury, he needed rest and we are grateful the franchise he plays for accepted our request to exempt him from playing in the IPL this season."
Terming Indian Premier League as India's most glamorous, domestic tournament, Prasad indicated that the longer format team was not chosen on the basis of IPL performances but by looking at the entire domestic season. "No doubt its a premier tournament, but looking at the conditions we will get in England and the performances of players over the last whole year, we picked the squad. In longer formats we consider other aspects of the game." Names of Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Basil Thampi did the rounds before selection but the selectors said that these players needed to be groomed further before being considered for the Indian team.
Prasad said names of both Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and exciting Delhi batsman Rishabh Pant came up for discussion. In case of Yadav, selectors decided that they would rather opt for an extra batsman than a full-time third spinner given that the tournament is in England. "Ashwin and Jadeja can be assisted by Yuvraj Singh and Kedar Jhadhav," he said.
Terming Pant as an exciting talent for the future, Prasad said, "We are completely impressed with the way he is playing. It is just because of the combination that he missed out. We are definitely looking at him for the future."
Apart from Pant and Yadav, other names which were discussed were Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik. In fact, all five have been kept on stand by and BCCI is requesting ICC to get visa for these players so that they can train with the squad. Meanwhile, these five players have been asked to report at the National Cricket Academy.
The chief selector brushed out any concerns related to MS Dhoni's dip in form. "He is the best wicket keeper in the world. People keep bringing his batting first. But his inputs to Virat are invaluable. He has the best brains. For 10-12 years that Dhoni has played he has never had a bad day with the gloves. In my opinion, he is the best in the world."
Sources confirmed that Gambhir's name had been part of discussions over the period of time and even today but reportedly skipper Kohli is not too keen to have the southpaw in the side.
TEAM - Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Manish Pandey.
