- The 15-member Indian team has been announced for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025. Rishabh Pant has been shown the way out for this mega event, while Sanju Samson has once again returned to the ODI team.
Champions Trophy 2025: After 28 years, Pakistan has been allowed to host the ICC tournament (Champions Trophy 2025). All countries except India will play their matches in the stadiums of Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Due to security reasons, all the matches of India will be held at the International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. India’s 15-member team has been announced for the Champions Trophy. Rishabh Pant has been shown the way out in the list of 15 players, while Sanju Samson has been included in the squad for the mega event.
Rishabh Pant was dropped
Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has selected his 15-member players for the Champions Trophy 2025 on Star Sports. Pant has failed to make his place in Bangar’s 15-member squad. Bangar said that Pant has been away from Team India for a long time. Bangar further said that even though Pant has made a tremendous comeback in T20I and Test, his performance in the ODI format has not been as expected from him. Bangar believes that KL Rahul can be everyone’s first choice as a wicketkeeper-batsman. But not Pant.
Manjrekar’s choice is Sanju!
Apart from Sanjay Bangar, Sanjay Manjrekar also shared his suggestion on Star Sports. Manjrekar also did not include Pant in the 15-member squad for the Champions Trophy 2025. Manjrekar believes that Sanju Samson can be included in the 15 members as a backup wicketkeeper.
Regarding Sanju, Manjrekar further said that I am confident that he will be selected for the Champions Trophy. Giving the reason for excluding Pant, Manjrekar said that he is facing difficulties in scoring runs in this format. If India needs a big hitter for the last 10 overs, then Pant can be there. But Sanju Samson can be a better option than Pant.
Pant’s statistics became a headache
Even though Pant hit a quick fifty in the second innings of the Sydney Test, his performance in the fifty-over format has not been anything special. Pant has had the opportunity to play 31 ODIs for India, but during this time he has been able to score only 871 runs at an average of 33.50. At the same time, his average falls even further in his List A career.
Pant, who scores an average of 33.50 in international cricket, can only score a modest average of 31.94 in List A, while Sanju has scored 510 runs in 14 innings of 16 ODIs for India at an average of 56.66. During this, he has scored 1 century and 3 half-centuries. Rishabh Pant played his last ODI for India against Sri Lanka in 2024, in which he was able to score only 6 runs off 9 balls.
Sanjay Bangar’s selected team for Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami.
India’s reserve players
Reserves: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav.