Champions Trophy: Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep back, maiden call-up for Yashasvi Jaiswal

India’s preliminary squad for next month’s ICC Champions Trophy includes a roster of ODI regulars and just one uncapped name in Yashasvi Jaiswal, with the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah to be ascertained closer to the team’s departure to the UAE after the upcoming series against England. 

Bumrah has been named as one of four pace options in the squad, which sees Mohammed Shami makes a return to the ODI setup after earlier being named in the T20I squad to face England, with the BCCI selectors dropping Mohammed Siraj. Kuldeep Yadav, who has not played cricket since October, returns as the sole specialist spinner. 

Ravindra Jadeja – who like Bumrah and Shami has not played an ODI since the ODI World Cup final on November 19, 2023 – makes a comeback as one of four spin options alongside Kuldeep, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. 

Arshdeep Singh holds onto his place as a potential new-ball operator at the Champions Trophy, with Hardik Pandya the only other pace option in a 15-man squad. For the three ODIs against England, the only difference to the Champions Trophy squad is the name of Harshit Rana. 

The selectors resisted the urge to rest Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul after a grueling tour of Australia – which itself followed five Test matches at home – ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in February. Rahul is one of two wicketkeepers in the ODI squad, with Rishabh Pant the other.

This means that Sanju Samson remains sidelined despite scoring a century in his last ODI, in late 2023. Karun Nair, who before the BCCI selection committee meeting had amassed 752 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, was not selected. Nitish Kumar Reddy has also not named despite impressing in his first T20I and Test series. 

As expected, the fitness of Bumrah was the big talking point given that India are scheduled to begin their Champions Trophy campaign a week after the final ODI with England. Bumrah’s workload has been managed by the BCCI carefully since the ODI World Cup final, with the 31-year-old fast bowler featuring in T20Is only during last year’s successful T20 World Cup title run. 

In Test cricket, Bumrah played four of India’s five home matches against England in early 2024 and four of five as the new home season began with back-to-back series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. In Australia, however, he played all five Tests – the first time in his career that Bumrah has done this – and bowled almost 152 overs for outstanding returns of 32 wickets at 13.06 each. 

India played just three ODIs in 2014 and failed to win any of them. That series result was India’s first bilateral ODI series loss to Sri Lanka in 27 years, and early signs were there, if you looked close enough, that all was not rosy between Rohit and Gambhir. But, given how poor ODI cricket is these days, don’t be surprised if India rock up at the ICC Champions Trophy in February and make it to the final. 

India host England for eight white-ball matches. The five-match T20I series begins January 22 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata and ends on February 2 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Then the two teams shift formats to ODI cricket, with three games on February 6 (Nagpur), 9 (Cuttack) and 12 (Ahmedabad). 

The England selectors on December 23 announced the squads for this tour and the Champions Trophy, with Joe Root returning to the ODI setup and Ben Stokes not considering as he continues his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury sustained in New Zealand last month. England are due to arrive in India on January 17. 

India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill (v/c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal