India captain Rohit Sharma who was facing a lot of criticism for his poor performances silenced all his critics by smashing a century in the second ODI against England. Rohit who was flopped in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and in the Ranji outing got his mojo back during the second ODI against England. He scored 119 off 90 runs that helped India register a four-wicket win against England. Kohli who missed the first ODI due to a knee injury was also featured in the second ODI where he got out after scoring just five runs. Despite Kohli's poor outing, Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan believes that Kohli will also regain form.
After finishing the ODI series against England Team India will travel to Dubai for the Champions Trophy 2025. Muralitharan reckons that Rohit and Virat's form will play a crucial role in India's performance in the marquee event.
"Definitely, because they are world-class players. Always say class is permanent (and) form is only temporary. So they will come to the (batting) form," Muralitharan is quoted as saying by PTI. "Rohit has scored a hundred and Virat will also will come to form. Definitely, they need to be in form in this tournament for India to win," he added.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be played in a hybrid model where one of a semifinals and matches featuring India will take place in Dubai. The rest of the tournament will take place in Pakistan's Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi. The final of the showpiece event will take place on March 9 and the venue for the title decider depends on India's performance, if the Rohit Sharma-led side qualify for the final it will take place in Dubai otherwise Pakistan will host the summit clash.
India's Champions Trophy 2025 schedule
The teams are divided into two groups where India are part of group A alongside Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh. The Men in Blue will start their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. After that, the side will face arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23. India will face New Zealand in their last league match on March 2.
India squad for Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.