Not Rohit Sharma! Legendary India Batter Was Mastermind In Selecting Final Squad For Champions Trophy 2025

India have made some major shake-ups in the squad with just over a week left before the beginning of the Champions Trophy campaign. Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament due to a lower back injury, with Harshit Rana coming in place of Him. On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal was too replaced in the squad with Varun Chakravarthy. While the captain Rohit Sharma might have been expected to have the final say in the squad changes, reports suggest that someone else was the mastermind behind this.

According to a report by news agency PTI, the picks of Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy were made on strong recommendations by head coach Gautam Gambhir. Incidentally, both were part of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side that Gambhir mentored in IPL 2024.

Even though Yashasvi Jaiswal has made way for Varun Chakravarthy in the squad, the young opener has been kept as part of the non-travelling reserves alongside Shivam Dube and Mohammed Siraj.

Jasprit Bumrah was sent to the NCA to rehabilitate for 5 weeks to recover from his back injury. After his scans came out post these 5 weeks, they came out alright. However, it could not be determined whether he would be in bowling shape once the Champions Trophy 2025 starts. Hence the selectors did not want to take any risk, and Bumrah was ommitted from the squad.

"The report sent by NCA head Nitin Patel clearly states that while he has completed his rehabilitation and scan reports seemed to be okay, it couldn't be concluded that whether he would be bowling fit by the time the tournament starts. Hence the selectors didn't take any risk," an anonymous source close to the proceedings told PTI.

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Non Travelling Substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube

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