India's selectors stuck to the tried-and-tested group of players for the Champions Trophy, resisting the urge to make wholesale changes following back-to-back Test series defeats against New Zealand and Australia.
With ODIs becoming a rarity in recent years, the selectors had to rely on recent performances in international and domestic cricket.
India played 77 ODIs between 2020 and 2024, 27 of them in the World Cup year in 2023. Notably, they played only three ODIs last year, during their tour of Sri Lanka, where they lost 0-2, with one match tied.
Despite the limited matches, India's ODI team appears settled, boasting an experienced batting line-up. Unlike T20s, ODIs provide senior players like Virat Kohli time to build innings, while bowlers have room to recover after expensive spells.
India will be nervously waiting on Jasprit Bumrah's fitness status. He is recovering from back spasms and expected to be out of action for at least another three weeks.
Sanju Samson will feel hard done by after being left out and so will Mohammed Siraj, a constant presence in the bowling attack across formats in the last couple of years.
Karun Nair's non-inclusion also raised some debate as to whether domestic cricket really counts towards making it to the Indian team.
The major talking points of India's Champions Trophy squad:
Rishabh Pant
Pant enjoyed the selectors' backing as he managed to edge out Sanju Samson for the second wicketkeeper's slot.
K L Rahul is the preferred wicketkeeper-middle order batter for India after he excelled with both bat and gloves during the ODI World Cup in 2023. He can bat anywhere in the top and middle order which gives the batting line-up a lot of flexibility.
Pant hasn't played much white ball cricket at the international cricket since his comeback last year. He was part of India's T20 World Cup winning team last year after which he played two more games in Sri Lanka.
In the ODI series in Sri Lanka in August 2024, he played only in the third and final match with Rahul the preferred option in the first two games.
Samson was in red hot form with the bat in T20 cricket, with three centuries in five games. However, he was shockingly left out by Kerala for the Vijay Hazare Trophy after he missed the preparatory camp in the lead-up to the tournament, which has now costed him a place in the Indian team for the Champions Trophy.
Samson is the ideal batter in the middle order in spin-friendly conditions in Dubai with his ability to attack the spinners, but the selectors went for Pant's flamboyance.
Mohammed Siraj
Siraj has been one of India's trusted bowlers across formats in the last couple of years.
He is the third highest wicket-taker in the world in ODIs with 71 wickets from 43 matches at an impressive economy rate of 5.11 in the last three years since January 2022.
However, Mohammed Shami's return and the inclusion of an extra spinner cost Siraj a place. The team management decided to add some variety in their pace attack in the form of Arshdeep Singh, who has been quite dependable in T20 cricket.
Shockingly, Siraj was not even called up for the ODI series against England, as the selectors opted to include young Harshit Rana to replace Jasprit Bumrah for the first two matches.
India's pace attacks looks shaky with both Bumrah and Shami coming back from injuries and Arshdeep not being an ODI regular, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya not yet bowling full spells.
Shubman Gill
Gill's appointment as vice-captain signals the selectors' long-term vision.
The selectors are looking towards Gill taking up the captaincy in the future in ODIs -- a format where he has enjoyed the most success at the international level.
Gill has settled into a superb opening combination with Rohit in 50 overs cricket. They are the fastest Indian pair to reach 1,000 partnership runs in ODIs, getting there in 13 innings last year.
Overall, their record as openers in ODIs is quite impressive: 1.732 runs combined as openers in 25 matches at an average of 72, with five century stands and 11 50-plus run partnerships.
Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah's fitness remains a concern as he recovers from back spasms.
Without India's biggest match-winner in recent years the task of winning the Champions Trophy could be nearly impossible.
While his performances in the Test series in Australia have been mind-boggling, Bumrah is among the best bowlers in the world in white ball cricket.
He boasts of an impressive tally of 149 wickets in 89 ODIs at an average of 23.
Karun Nair
A few eyebrows were raised when Nair failed to make it to the Champions Trophy squad or the three-match ODI series against England.
The selectors will find it hard to justify leaving out a player with an unbelievable tally of 779 runs in nine matches at an average of 39, with five centuries and a fifty.
In an era when the BCCI is stressing on their Indian players to turn up for domestic cricket, ignoring Nair's performances would have been quite tough.
© 2025