Can cover all the bases with our spinners: India captain Rohit Sharma

Team India announced their squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 and the upcoming three-match ODI series against England at home, as All India Men's Senior Selection Committee chief Ajit Agarkar named the 15 players who would take part in the Men in Blue's upcoming assignment. Notably, named India skipper, Rohit Sharma, was also in attendance of the press conference alongside the selector Agarkar on Saturday, January 18.

Apart from Rohit being the leader, and Shubman Gill being his deputy, India also picked spinners like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, of which only the fourth isn't as recognized a batter as the first three. During the media interaction, Rohit was asked on their roles in the team, and he expressed that he was more than happy to stick to the aforementioned names as part of the spin attack.

"The spinners just give this a little bit of depth as well when you have those spinning all-rounders. Unfortunately, we don't have too many of them as seaming all-rounders, but you want to take your batting as deep as possible along with some quality bowling as well. So these guys, (Sundar, Jadeja, Axar Patel) they are proper all-rounders, and not spin bowling all-rounders. They can bat, they can bowl as well," he said at the presser.

Very comfortable how they have performed their roles in the past: Rohit

Furthermore, the 37-year-old mentioned that he himself as a crucial member of the team is satisfied with the roles and kind of performances that the spinners have given in the past.

"They are not in the squad to fill the role of a batter, or likewise, fill the role of a bowler. They have performed in the situations where the team and I are very, very comfortable with that they do with their certain role, and to have these kinds of options is always nice. And when I saw these three are quality boys in terms of what they have, and when you have them, the squad looks like it has got a lot of depth. And then obviously with the quality of spin as well, where you can cover all the bases. We have an off-spinner (Sundar), left-arm spinners (Axar and Jadeja) and not to forget Kuldeep Yadav. So when we pick such teams, we have enough to cover all the bases," Rohit added.

Also Read: Champions Trophy 2025 India Squad

India Champions Trophy 2025 Squad

Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill (vc), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah*, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja

Note: Jasprit Bumrah's availability is subject to fitness

Reserves: Harshit Rana (in case Jasprit Bumrah is unavailable)