Former England captain prefers Joe Root over Shreyas Iyer in his Champions Trophy team of the tournament, picks only three Indian players

Former England captains Michael Atheron and Nasser Hussain picked their best XI of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. While Hussain pushed Shreyas Iyer to no.5 in order to make place for Joe Root at no.4, Atherton snubbed Iyer to include England's veteran batter.

Root scored 225 runs from three innings at an average of 75, including a century against Afghanistan that went in vain. On the other hand, Iyer was the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament after New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra. He scored 243 runs from five innings at an average of 48.60, featuring two half-centuries.

On Sky Sports Cricket, both Atherton and Hussain picked Mitchell Santner as captain. Atherton picked Australia's Josh Inglis as his wicketkeeper-batter. Inglis scored an unbeaten century in record-breaking run chase against England. However, Hussain felt that Rahul did well in tricky conditions of Dubai. 

Apart from Root, Hussain also went for Ben Duckett as opener in the team while Atherton picked Ibrahim Zadran who scored 177 against Jos Buttler-led side. Hussain wanted a spin-bowling all-rounder in New Zealand's Glenn Phillips whereas Atherton trusted Afghanistan's pace-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai for the job. 

Other players both former England captains included in their side were Ravindra, Virat Kohli, Matt Henry, Mohammed Shami and Varun Chakravarthy.

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Michael Atheron's Best XI of Champions Trophy  2025 -

Ibrahim Zadran, Rachin Ravindra, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Josh Inglis (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

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Nasser Hussain's Best XI of Champions Trophy  2025 -

Ben Duckett, Rachin Ravindra, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

ICC's Champions Trophy 2025 Team of the tourament -

Rachin Ravindra, Ibrahim Zadran, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Glenn Phillips, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mitchell Santner (c), Mohammed Shami, Matt Henry, Varun Chakaravarthy, 12th player: Axar Patel