Rohit, Shami back in Indian squad for Champions Trophy

New Delhi, May 8

India on Monday announced the 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy to be played in England between June 1-18.
India are the defending champions, they had won the title in 2013 defeating England in the final.

There was no place in the squad for veterans Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra.
The national selectors discussed the names of Rishabh Pant, Suresh Raina, Shradul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik and Kuldeep Yadav during the selection committee meeting here, but they weren’t considered for the final selection.
The selectors went with the proven performers and did not give weightage to the performances in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.
The squad consists more of the same names which last played against England in an ODI series in January this year.
Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami are making a comeback after an injury layoff.

Sharma had recovered from a thigh injury while Shami underwent a knee surgery. Both had sustained injuries during India’s marathon home season which saw the hosts playing 13 Tests.

Ajinkya Rahane has been included in the team as a backup opener to replace Rohit or Shikhar if either of them gets injured during the tournament.
Hardik Pandya is the only bowling all-rounder in the team.
The selectors looked to boost the fast bowling department by picking four specialist fast bowlers in Umesh, Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvneshwar and Hardik as fast bowling all-round option, considering the swing and seam condition of the England pitches.
The selectors only picked two specialist spinners in Ashwin and Jadeja, while looking to utilise the part-time spin of Yuvraj during the middle overs.
There was a toss-up between having an extra batsman or a third spinner. And, it seems, the selectors have gone ahead with Rahane as the favoured choice.
India’s specialist opener of late, KL Rahul, missed the bus as he is recuperating from a shoulder surgery.
This allowed Shikhar to secure his position in the squad with Rahane coming as a back-up opener.
Some of the young guns — Rishabh Pant, Rahul Tripathi, Yuzvendra Chahal and Sanju Samson — have been performing well in the ongoing IPL season but the selectors didn’t read too much into their IPL exploits.
India have been placed in Group B, alongside Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy. They play their first match against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 4.
“This is the best team we could have picked for the Champions Trophy. We have gone with a conventional team. They all are proven performers. There were lengthy discussions over some names, but we zeroed in on these 15 names. We are confident of India defending their title,” said selection committee chairman MSK Prasad after the meeting.

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahne, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar