Form and fitness the concern for India ahead of Champions Trophy selection

The deadline for all eight competing teams at next month’s ICC Champions Trophy to announce their provisional squads is December 12, and ahead of this weekend’s BCCI selection committee, there are plenty of questions surrounding the makeup of India’s ODI squad. 

The squad for the Champions Trophy as well as three ODIs at home against England before that is expected to be announced over the next 48 hours, and top of the list of questions is whether the selectors will look at current red-ball form when picking the squad. 

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, India’s fifth most successful opening pair in ODI cricket, have both been in poor Test form and at one stage found themselves dropped during the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy. Rishabh Pant, who has played just one ODI since he made a successful comeback to cricket after his horrific car accident in December 2022, struggled for form in Australia to the extent that several former cricketers turned commentators questioned his maturity in crunch situations. 

The recent form of allrounder Ravindra Jadeja also leaves much to be desired and given that he has not played an ODI since the 2023 World Cup final, there are doubts over whether the selectors will pick the 36-year-old. 

 And then there is Yashasvi Jaiswal, who finished the tour of Australia as India’s leading run-getter, and for whom there are now calls to be included for the first time in an ODI squad. So then, what will the BCCI selectors decide on when they meet in Mumbai on Saturday?

Since the start of 2023, India’s most prolific batter in ODI cricket is Gill. In 32 innings in the 50-over format, the 25-year-old has scored 1641 runs at an average of almost 59, with five centuries, which is second to Virat Kohli’s six in the same time frame. However, Gill struggled during India’s only ODI series last year, managing a total of 57 runs with a highest score of 35 in Sri Lanka, and his torrid time during the BGT, during which he tallied a mere 93 runs from five Test matches, might force the selectors to look at the uncapped Jaiswal instead. 

Jaiswal, who turned 23 last month, finished his first tour of Australia with a total of 391 runs, including a score of 161 in the Perth Test and two scores in the eighties at the MCG. His aptitude, maturity and run scoring in the BGT impressed the cricket world, and Jaiswal has never been closer to a maiden ODI callup. While he has not played a List A game since November 2022, a career average of nearly 54, five centuries in the format, including a double-century at the age of 17, and Jaiswal’s Test and T20I success in the past 18 months since his India debut all point to a young and aggressive opener capable of taking to ODI cricket like a fish to water. 

However, for that to happen, the selectors will have to separate the very successful opening pair of Rohit and Gill, who did the job during the ODI World Cup. 

Beyond the top three, the nature of India’s middle order for the England series and Champions Trophy is also up for debate. Shreyas Iyer has a very good record at number four and had a superb ODI World Cup in 2023 but struggled in Sri Lanka last year. 

With Pant back in the frame, the left-hander offers a unique option to the selectors, but whether the 27-year-old gets into the starting 11 is not straightforward. Pant played just one of India’s three ODIs in 2024, with KL Rahul keeping wickets in the first two games in Sri Lanka. Rahul also kept wicket during the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup in 2023 and has a very good record in the middle order.

Sanju Samson, who scored a century in his last ODI, is another name the selectors will surely deliberate on, especially given his T20I form last year. Samson, promoted to open during India’s home season, scored three centuries in the span of five games and his name was conspicuous by its absence from the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

The one certainty in the middle order is the allrounder Hardik Pandya, who proved his fitness and form when playing white-ball cricket for Baroda recently. Beyond Pandya at number six, the selectors will have to choose two from the trio of Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar with Nitish Kumar Reddy also likely to be discussed during the selection meeting. 

Jadeja’s ODI performances over the past couple of years have dipped, even though he played all through the last World Cup, and it could be that the selectors look at the younger Axar and Washington. Axar did decently well during last year’s tour of Sri Lanka and can be used as a floater in the lineup if required. Washington, who made his ODI debut in 2017, has proven his fitness and similarly did well with the ball in Sri Lanka.

With Kuldeep Yadav’s fitness not ascertained after surgery and time at the NCA, if the selectors do not pick him as the specialist spinner, then they could go for Jadeja, Axar and Washington, given the nature of wickets in the UAE. But more likely is the selection of two of those three allrounders and one specialist spinner. 

If there is no Kuldeep, then the spinner’s role could go to Ravi Bishnoi, who took 22 wickets for India in T20 cricket last year, or the uncapped Varun Chakravarthy. Chakravarthy won a T20I recall in 2024 after playing a leading role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ run to the IPL title, and then claimed 17 wickets from seven games. He is currently in good form for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, Indian domestic cricket’s premier one-day competition, with 18 wickets at an average of 12. 

Regarding the pace attack, it is highly unlikely that Jasprit Bumrah will play the England series. The selectors have until the first week of February to make changes to the Champions Trophy squad, and they will hope that India’s best pace bowler is fit by then. Mohammed Shami’s fitness also remains a talking point, with Rohit Sharma and former India coach Ravi Shastri both openly speaking during the BGT about a lack of clarity on the fast bowler’s recovery.

Shami played one Ranji Trophy match last year, followed by the entire duration of Bengal’s Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy and turned out for three Vijay Hazare Trophy games this month from which he took five wickets at nearly 26 each and an economy rate of under five, apart from an innings of 42 not out last week. 

Ideally, India would want Bumrah and Shami fit for the Champions Trophy, as well as Mohammed Siraj who bowled over 157 overs in Australia where he ended a very taxing Test year by playing all five matches of the BGT. It is likely that Siraj will be rested for the three ODIs against England, and then returns for the Champions Trophy. 

Beyond these three experienced fast bowlers, two of Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Mukesh Kumar are likely to be selected in the ODI squad. Arshdeep impressed during his ODI recall in late 2023 on the tour of South Africa where he claimed 10 wickets in three outings, and last year in Sri Lanka picked up two wickets in as many games. Before he injured himself in 2022, Prasidh had begun to make an impressive case for long-term ODI selection, taking 25 wickets from his first 14 games, but post surgery and rehabilitation, the pacer has taken four wickets in three ODIs with an economy of over seven. 

Mukesh Kumar might lack in pace but could still be recalled given his experience unless the selectors hand an ODI callup to the uncapped Harshit Rana, whose ability to crank it up could be what is required in the UAE. Rana also offers a handy lower-order hitters option to India.