Shami poised for comeback in Champions Trophy squad, Bumrah still on the road to recovery

Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee will announce India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC event and the three ODIs against England on Saturday. The squad selection is crucial as the team prepares to face tough competition in both tournaments.

Rohit Sharma was declared captain on Friday, despite a forgettable six months in international cricket; a teaser that selectors would not go into panic stations.

The core of the 2023 batting line-up is likely to remain intact. But India’s bowling strength will be contingent on the injury status of their lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah and main spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

With Bumrah – he couldn’t bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test match due to back spasms - it would be up to the selectors to pick him, subject to recovery.

The pacer is yet to resume bowling and his case will be handled with care due to his injury-ridden past. They have time until a week before the tournament, which starts on February 19, to test his match-fitness.

Kuldeep has begun bowling and batting in the nets at the National Cricket Academy and is known to be closer to recovery. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, with 18 wickets in the Vijay Hazare ODI trophy, is acting as cover.

Is Ravindra Jadeja still an automatic pick, or will he be pipped by Axar Patel? Whether the two like-for-like spinners make the squad depends on how tired the think-tank expects the pitches in Dubai to be. India will be exclusively playing their matches in Dubai, while all the other teams will also play in Pakistan.

All-rounder Nitish Reddy’s stock has only gone up, but Hardik Pandya is already there. Reddy will make it, if India wants all-round options in the squad. Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and the returning Mohammed Shami will form the fast-bowling core.

Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to be picked for his first ODI tourney, even though Rohit and Shubman Gill have been prolific openers in 50-over cricket.

Three wicketkeepers, two slots

Jaiswal is the only left-hander in contention to bat in the top six, which is why Rishabh Pant should remain in discussions for the keeper-batter slot; the one point of contention in India’s ODI make-up.

Pant is yet to master the middle-overs game, so crucial in ODI cricket. KL Rahul has settled into that role in the middle-order appreciably, although his keeping fitness may warrant cover. There’s also Sanju Samson’s eye-catching stroke play which will be difficult to ignore. Between Rahul, Pant and Samson, selectors have to pick the best two for the job.

There’s plenty of talk of the selectors not giving enough weightage to domestic performances. If domestic numbers were taken at face value, batter Karun Nair, of Test triple hundred on debut fame, should make it on the strength of his 752 runs in 7 innings in Vijay Hazare ODIs.

But the only batter he could possibly replace is Shreyas Iyer, who hasn’t done much wrong after his heavy scoring (530 runs) in the 2023 World Cup. All in all, there are some interesting calls to be made and whether the selectors make them or not will go a long way in telling the country how serious all the talk of an overhaul is.

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