England announce squads for India tour and ICC Champions Trophy 2025, no place for Ben Stokes but Joe Root returns to ODI team

England Cricket Board (ECB) on December 22 announced their ODI and T20I squads for India tour and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which is set to be played in hybrid model. Joe Root returned to the ODI squad for the first time since the ODI World Cup 2023. However, all-rounder Ben Stokes was unavailable for selection. Stokes recently suffered a left hamstring injury during the third and final Test of the series against New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton.

This is England's first limited-overs tour under the all-format head coach Brendon McCullum. Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed is set to make his debut in the T20Is. The notable absentee is fast bowler Mark Wood who is yet to recover from elbow injury. 

The T20I series will commence on January 22, 2025 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The T20I series will end on February 2. The ODI series will begin on February 6 at VCA Stadium, Nagpur. The schedule of Champions Trophy 2025 is yet to be announced but it is scheduled to begin on February 19.

Root's return

Root's last appearance in the ODIs was against Pakistan. He scored a half-century as England won by 93 runs. However, England finished seventh on the points table with just three wins from nine ODIs under Jos Buttler's captaincy. While Root has been scoring centuries for fun in Test cricket, he hasn't scored one in ODIs for more than five years. His last ODI ton came against West Indies in ODI World Cup 2019.

Root has a decent record against India in the One-Day format with 739 runs from 20 innings at an average of 43.47 including three centuries and as many half-centuries. 

Rehan's T20 numbers

Rehan has played 62 T20s so far (including The Hundred). The 20-year-old leg-spinner has 58 wickets at an average of 29.56. His economy rate is 8.06 runs per over. He has been handy with the bat down the order averaging 12.50. He has 400 runs from 44 innings including a high score of 49.

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England's ODI squad for India tour and Champions Trophy -

Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood

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England's T20I squad for India tour -

Jos Buttler (c), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood