India winning ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai with Kohli, Rohit, Jadeja as kingpins a reality unlikely to be denied
India have everything it takes to go all the way. It’s now just a matter of playing to their full potential. Or at least very close to it.
India’s build-up to the Champions Trophy has been limited but also an unqualified success. During the whole of 2024, they only played three One-Day Internationals, in Colombo in August when they were soundly beaten 0-2 (the first game ended in a tie). More to refamiliarise themselves with the format, they needed the three-match series against England at home earlier this month. That they crushed the visitors 3-0 was commendable. More significantly from the larger-picture perspective, their inspirational captain produced one special innings to snap a long run of poor returns and their talismanic former skipper showed signs of shaking off the rust with a measured half-century to round off a terrific week for the men in blue.
Despite the array of riches that populate the Indian batting line-up, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are unquestionably the most influential figures, for their experience and pedigree. Between them, they have 82 ODI centuries – that’s correct, an astonishing 82, with Kohli alone boasting 50 – and are among the premier white-ball batters of all time. It is to them that their colleagues will look for inspiration, if not direction, because in the absence of the mercurial Jasprit Bumrah, the onus will be on the batters to give their spin-heavy bowling attack a few additional runs to play with when they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai against Bangladesh on Thursday.
Just how much Bumrah will be missed will become clearer over the next couple of weeks. But had India had a gun to their head and been asked to confirm which format they’d rather have the genius from Gujarat miss if he had to, they’d perhaps say the 50-over one, despite his extraordinary skills that make him so dangerous at all stages of the innings, with the new ball and the old.
It will be interesting to see how the largely inexperienced pace attack shapes up in their leader’s absence. Mohammed Shami is a veteran of 103 ODIs and three shy of 200 wickets, but he hasn’t played a lot of international cricket – a lot of cricket, actually – in the last 15 months. The heel surgery that kept him out of competitive cricket for 360 days is now a thing of the past, though Shami hasn’t had the luxury of easing back gently into the grind of top-flight action. He will perforce have to carry Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, who have played nine and three ODIs respectively, along with him, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya providing some relief and ensuring that the pace group isn’t entirely without international experience.
The perception that pitches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will assist the slower bowlers has influenced the presence of five specialist spinners in the 15-strong party. That three of them – Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – are more than capable batters who can lend depth and muscle can’t be overlooked. In an ideal world, India will go in with two of this trio and one of wicket-taking wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy in a bid to break open the generally meandering middle overs, where things start to drift both from batting and bowling standpoints.
Washington didn’t get a lot of game time in either the ODIs or the five T20Is that preceded them, but the rest looked in reasonably good rhythm against the English, Jadeja proving to be the ace in the pack in his first 50-over international outings since the 2023 World Cup.
Batters to take load
But not for the first time, India’s fate will rest in the hands of their celebrated, in-form batters. In Sri Lanka last year, this same group came unstuck against the assortment of home spinners on crumbling decks but at the Champions Trophy, the surfaces are unlikely to be as diabolical. The consistency of Shubman Gill, Rohit’s deputy, and Shreyas Iyer will particularly encourage Rohit and head coach Gautam Gambhir, who must have welcomed the breathing room the 4-1 and 3-0 routs of England offered after a harrowing time in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series.
There is a nice feel to the Indian squad, loads of options in both departments backed up by a crack fielding unit with Jadeja, Kohli and Axar as the kingpins. Is there one spinner too many? Perhaps so, but that’s not a deal-breaker. Nor is the fact that KL Rahul has been proclaimed as the first-choice stumper, ahead of Rishabh Pant. For all his effervescence, the younger man is yet to break out in 50-over cricket while in the middle order, Rahul has been outstanding for long. India have everything it takes to go all the way. It's now just a matter of playing to their full potential. Or at least very close to it.
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