Former India cricketers Irfan Pathan and Sunil Gavaskar picked India's playing XI for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 which is scheduled to start from February 19. Pakistan and Dubai will host the matches of the marquee event where India will play all their matches in UAE. Team India will face Bangladesh in their tournament's opener clash which is scheduled to take place on February 20.
There are a lot of speculations happening as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are yet to announce the squad for the mega event. Amidst all the rumours, India's cricketing legends Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan picked batters they want in Rohit Sharma-led side's playing XI in the mega event.
Both stars picked Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli as India's top three and Shubman Gill as a backup opener. Pathan also believes that KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer should be part of India's middle order.
"If I am sitting there I will say who has done really well in the recent past. KL Rahul had a fantastic 50-over World Cup. Shreyas Iyer - the kind of ODI World Cup he had, I think he needed some backing. In the last few months, he has not got that backing. I will definitely back these two guys to be there in the Champions Trophy," said Irfan Pathan on star sports.
The duo picked Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer as India's middle order where Gavaskar reckons that Sanju Samson has to be a backup keeper and middle-order batter considering his recent performances.
"No. 4 for me will be Shreyas Iyer. No. 5 will be KL Rahul and No. 6 will be Rishabh Pant. Sanju Samson, with the hundreds he has scored, has to be in the squad because he has scored hundreds for India. How can you ignore somebody who is scoring hundreds for his country?" the former India captain observed.
The BCCI reportedly delayed the Champions Trophy 2025 squad announcement as there are looms over the participation of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav.