So the interwebs were already abuzz with the announcement of India’s planned squad for the series of five T20Is against England to be followed by the 2025 Champions Trophy, but not all eyes were on this new squad selection.
India begin with the one-day series with England on February 6 – with the ICC event tentatively scheduled to start on the 19th-one major spotlight that is yet to be turned on. The anticipation about the squads continues as BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has said a piece of very big news. It was known this Sunday to the media during an interaction that a selection committee meeting would be held on 18 or 19 January for the Champions Trophy.
India starts playing in Champions Trophy with Bangladesh on 20 February itself. The model is such that India will play all its games in Dubai and the rest of the league games will be hosted by Pakistan.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma will remain the captain of the country till the ICC Champions Trophy this year, according to a report from ANI.
During the period, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is touted to be the next Indian captain.
Rohit’s captaincy has been thrilling with some memorable highs and horrifying lows. From a 10-match winning streak in the home ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, ending with a loss in the final to Australia, or while retribution after the ICC T20 World Cup at Barbados 2024, where he won the tournament, his leadership has been full of positives for the fans. They’ve also made a place in the final of ICC World Test Championship in 2023, although lost to Australia.
But luck was no longer favoring the ‘Hitman’ as a batter and the captain since the second half of 2024. In the 2024-25 Test season starting with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight games and 15 innings – 10.93 was his average with the best batting being 52. During the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit ended up scoring just 31 runs in 3 Tests with a best score of 10. Such have been his form struggles that led him to withdraw from the final Test at Sydney.
Rohit was himself a little embarrassed as the captain. This happened right before the Test series against Australia, soon after which poor form and injuries forced him to not only relinquish the Test series at Sydney but also relinquish the captaincy. India lost, for the first time in 12 years, a home Test series which was their first in the history by 0-3 by New Zealand, also their first-ever whitewash in a home Test series of three matches or more.
