Former England captain Nasser Hussain picked the 2025 Champions Trophy team of the tournament, in which he included five Indian players. India lifted their third Champions Trophy title after beating New Zealand in the final by four wickets in Dubai on Sunday.
Hussain picked Ben Duckett and Rachin Ravindra as his openers. While Ravindra top-scored in the tournament with 263 runs, Duckett scored 227 runs in three games.
“I had too many people at the top of the order so I wanted a balanced side so I have gone Ben Duckett and Rachin Ravindra at the top of the order. They are good players, the two of them. One is tall one is short so that balances both of them being left-handers,” Nasser Hussain said on Sky Sports Cricket’s YouTube channel.
Hussain then went with Virat Kohli and Joe Root at number three and four respectively and picked Shreyas Iyer at number five. Root and Kohli scored 225 and 218 runs respectively in the tournament whereas Iyer amassed 243 runs for India.
The renowned expert picked India’s wicket-keeper KL Rahul as his number six and praised him for the way he batted in tricky Dubai conditions. Rahul scored 140 runs in four innings at an average of 140 and a strike rate of almost 98.
“I’ve gone KL Rahul at 6 because he’s got some very useful runs. I nearly went Tom Latham because he’s kept brilliantly and got that hundred but I think KL on these tricky pitches in Dubai in tricky positions has got them over the line,” he explained.
Hussain backed Glenn Philipps as his number seven. The New Zealander scored 177 runs in the tournament and was superb in the field, taking three unbelievable catches of Mohammad Rizwan, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill.
“I’ve gone with my spinner as an all-rounder in Glenn Phillips. He’s my No.7,” he said.
Hussain picked Mitchell Santner as his captain whereas he backed Matt Henry and Mohammed Shami as the pace duo. The former right-hander picked Varun Chakravarthy as the main spinner in the team.
While Henry ended as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 scalps, the trio of Santner, Shami, and Chakravarthy bagged nine wickets each.
Nasser Hussain’s best XI for Champions Trophy 2025: Ben Duckett, Rachin Ravindra, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy.
