With Champions Trophy starting in days, last date for ubmitting final squads is approaching. The teams are required to submit their final squads till 12th January, 2025. Despite that, teams haven’t finalized their squads yet.
A major reason could the back-to-back injuries of players. Key players such as, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Saim Ayub are currently injured impacting their team selection process a lot.
Selectors are working on whom to bring and whom to drop. The Indian selectors are expected ro make a final announcement by the 11th.
Looking at a predicted squad for Pakistan Team, we can see Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Imam ul Haque, Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan (Captain), Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Afridi , Haris Rauf , Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed with Amir Jamal , Tayyab Tahir and Muhammad Hasnain in Reserve.
Pakistan team can also choose Saud Shakeel or Abdullah Shafique or Muhammad Usman and Sufyan Muqeem in their final squad depending on their team strategy.
Imam ul Haque and Fakhar Zaman has been out of action for some time but their comeback will be very crucial for the team.
Rohit Sharma has been the captain of India along with KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya serving as the vice-captains.
However, selectors might make some changes for the Champions Trophy and Jasprit Bumrah is being considered as very strong candidate for the position of vice-captain.
He has proven his worth in BGT as a bowler and a captain. In his captaincy, Indian Side comfortably won the first test match.
The expected squad for India includes, Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
However these are not the actual squads and might change as per strategy, playing conditions and injuries, etc. Coming week is very important as teams will be announcing their final squads for the champions’ trophy.
