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Reportedly, India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar were not on same page over Shreyas Iyer's selection for Champions Trophy 2025. Shreyas Iyer's impressive batting show in the recent times saw him making a cut to India's Champions Trophy squad.
India's batting approach has shifted from a top-order focus, which was also evident in Champions Trophy 2017 and the ODI World Cup 2019 , to a more balanced attack with greater strength in the middle order. India's middle order capabilities were on full display in their recent ODI series against England, particularly with the consistent performance of Shreyas Iyer.
Gautam Gambhir opposes Ajit Agarkar’s stance on Shreyas Iyer's selection for Champions Trophy
However, despite this progress, uncertainty remains regarding these middle-order positions, as head coach Gautam Gambhir has indicated his preference for a left-right batting combination, suggesting a lack of fixed batting slots. While Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma have shown glimpses of their form, India's strong batting performances against England were largely driven by the middle order. Collectively, the players batting from positions 4 through 7 amassed 375 runs in three innings at an impressive strike rate of 116.42, including three half-centuries. In contrast, England's middle-order batters, occupying similar positions, scored only 278 runs at a significantly lower average of 23.16, with just two fifties. Iyer emerged as the leading run-scorer in India's middle order. Despite initial discussions about dropping him for the opening game to experiment with a left-right top-order combination, he went on to score two fifties, accumulating 181 runs at an average of 60.33.
However TOI has reported that Iyer's inclusion in India's Champions Trophy squad came at a cost. Reportedly, Gambhir and Agarkar were locked in a heated meeting over star batter's selection. Going by the report, Gambhir-led Indian team management overruled chief selector Ajit Agarkar by supporting KL Rahul. Agarkar, during a Champions Trophy press conference last month, had stated that Rishabh Pant was the first-choice wicketkeeper for both the ICC tournament and the England ODIs. However, both Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir advocated for continuity, resulting in Rahul playing in all three matches against England.
"Selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar, while announcing the Champions Trophy squad, had claimed Pant was the first-choice wicketkeeper. As it turned out, Pant is the only player in the squad who didn't get a game in the three ODIs in the England series. Sources indicated that there had been heated debate in the selection meeting around retaining Shreyas Iyer in the team and over the second wicketkeeper's slot," read the TOI report.
Gambhir earlier made it clear that KL Rahul will be India's preferred wicketkeeper choice and the team management will stick with it
India's Champions Trophy squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy.
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