Rohit Sharma-led Team beat England by four wickets in the first ODI in Nagpur to show how prepared they are for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 which is slated to start from February 19. Indian bowlers put on a show to keep England batters in check as they folded the visitors for just 248 riding on Harshit Rana and Ravindra Jadeja's three-fers. Indian batters then did the rest by overhauling the modest total with 68 balls to spare. The troika of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel cracked impressive fifties to lift India to an emphatic win.
Rohit Sharma on India's goal for Champions Trophy 2025
During the post-match presentation, India captain Rohit Sharma was asked about his goal for the all-important Champions Trophy to which he said that he wants to make sure that the team keep on doing the right things and try and tick every boxes there is to be ticked in bowling and batting.
"[Goal ahead of the Champions Trophy] Nothing specific, overall as a team I want to make sure we keep on doing the right things. Try and tick every boxes there is to be ticked in bowling and batting.
India will kick off their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 and then lock horns with their arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23rd. Their last league match will come against New Zealand on March 2.
Rohit's brigade would like to enter the eight-team tournament with a series win over England. India will set their sights on their third Champions Trophy title in the upcoming edition. They also made it to the final in the previous edition but lost to Pakistan to miss their shot at the title.
Meanwhile, Rohit's rusty form continued as he could only score 2 off 7 balls. But Shubman Gill's 87, Axar Patel's 52 and Shreyas Iyer's 59 made sure India achieve the target without breaking a sweat.
Rohit lauded Shubman Gill, Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer for forming partnership when it mattered the most, especially after he and Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to the pavilion for paltry scores.
"Pretty happy because we knew we were coming after a long time to this format. We wanted to quickly regroup and understand what is to be done. Didn't start off well with their openers putting pressure on us, but the way we came back was superb. This is a slightly longer format where you have time to come back. When things start to go away from you, it doesn't mean it will keep going away. Credit to the bowlers, everyone chipped in. It was important for us to keep us going, we took wickets at crucial time, the energy on the field was brilliant as well. [Axar at No. 5] We want a lefty in the middle, it is simple. We know they have a couple of spinners who are going to bowl into the left-handers and we wanted one out there. Axar is an improved batter in the last couple of years, we got to see that today. We needed a partnership and Gill and Axar batted really well. Did that pretty much though I felt we shouldn't have lost the wickets at the end," Rohit said during the post-match presentation after India's four-wicket win over England.
India will next face England in the second ODI which is scheduled to be played on February 9 in Odisha.