Rohit Sharma. | (Image Credits: X)
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma addressed the selection of five spinners in their Champions Trophy 2025 squad ahead of starting their campaign on February 20, Thursday against Bangladesh in Dubai. The 37-year-old clarified that there are two spinners in the squad and the remaining three are all-rounders as a video of the same emerged on social media.
With Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the squad, several fans and experts have raised eyebrows on the same. With Jasprit Bumrah out, it has left the Asian Giants with only three specialist pacers in the squad in Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.
Below is the video of the same as he says, “2 spinner hain, baaki 3 all-rounder hain”:
“All we wanted with Shami was to get back to wearing India colours” – Rohit Sharma
Rohit opined that having Mohammed Shami is the biggest positive heading into the eight-team event. The veteran opener feels they have full faith in the right-arm seamer that he will rediscover his rhythm despite not taking enough wickets against England. He said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“If it’s going to be overcast, we have the bowling arsenal to combat that. If there are overhead conditions helping the bowlers, we have the bowlers to exploit that. And if we bat in those overhead conditions, the batters know exactly what to do. All we wanted with Shami was to get back to wearing India colours more than anything else. Whether he gets wickets or not was completely immaterial to us [in the England series].”
India finished as the runners-up in 2017.
