Axar Patel has been left out of India’s CT squad selected by Sunil Gavaskar and Irvan Pathan

Former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan They have selected India’s squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy. In a big surprise, they both decided to opt for veteran player Ravindra Jadeja Axar Patel In the team.

Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan also created a big surprise when they picked Yashavi Jaiswal to open the tournament alongside Rohit Sharma. They both agreed that Shubman Gill would be the reserve opener in the side instead of being included in the first-choice playing XI.

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Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan select India’s squad for Champions Trophy 2025

During a discussion on Star Sports’ show ‘Game Plan’, Sunil Gavaskar and Irvan Pathan agreed that Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli are India’s top three. The duo chose Shreyas Iyer due to his excellent batting form in recent ODIs and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

“If I was sitting there I would say who has performed really well in the recent past. KL Rahul has had a fantastic 50-over World Cup. Shreyas Iyer – the kind of ODI World Cup he played, I think he needed some support. Irfan Pathan said: “In the last few months, he hasn’t had that support. I’ll definitely be backing those two guys to be there in the Champions Cup.”

When asked about the wicket-keepers, both KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant were named in the first-choice playing XI making it a strong and deep batting order. Sanju Samson was selected as the third wicket-keeper-batsman due to his scintillating T20I form.

“No. 4 for me would be Shreyas Iyer. No. 5 would be KL Rahul and No. 6 would be Rishabh Pant. Sanju Samson, with the hundreds he has scored, should be in the team because he has scored hundreds for India. How can you ignore someone who scores hundreds for his country?” . Sunil Gavaskar noted.

Ravindra Jadeja on Axar Patel

Surprisingly, both Sunil Gavaskar and Irvan Pathan insisted on having a long batting line-up with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja are in seventh and eighth positions. They have picked Nitish Kumar Reddy as their stand-in bowler on the basis of his excellent Test debut recently. Axar Patel could not find a place in the team.

“If you have that kind of balance, you have Ravindra Jadeja at No. 8 and obviously you have batting and bowling options. That’s a good batting line-up as you will see,” Pathan noted.

“Having a fast bowling all-rounder as a backup is a great option. Nitish Kumar Reddy is at a high level as well. It’s not easy to perform in Australia, he did that,” the former Indian pacer added.

Bowling lineup

Sunil Gavaskar, Irfan Pathan picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav as the three bowlers in the team. However, Pathan insisted on having Mohammed Siraj as a backup fast bowler.

Irfan Pathan said: “Mohammed Siraj will be the third player, not in the starting line-up if Bumrah and Shami are available but we have to see what happens with Bumrah in the attack. We hope the injury is not serious.”

Unfortunately, all three bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav have injury concerns at the moment. Kuldeep and Shami underwent surgeries last year. While Shami has been selected for the upcoming T20I seriesIt remains to be seen how he maintains the workload in international cricket.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep is yet to return to the field after the surgery he underwent in the groin area. However, the biggest worry will be from Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah suffered a side strain during the Sydney Test against Australia and there has been no update on his fitness since that match.

Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan’s India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Rohit Sharma, Yashavi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (week), Rishabh Pant (week), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (week ), Nitish Kumar Reddy