Champions Trophy 2025: Sanjay Bangar names his India XI, picks Washington Sundar ahead of Axar Patel

The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy is drawing near the horizon. The ninth installment of the marquee ODI tournament is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, February 19. In the past week, there have been numerous commentators and ex-cricketers picking their nations' best XI according to their preferences. Former Indian batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, recently hopped on the trend and announced his XI for the Indian side.

In what were fairly mainstream picks, vice-captain Shubman Gill, skipper Rohit Sharma, and ace batter Virat Kohli were Bangar's top-three batters in the lineup. Gill looked to have regained form in the recently-concluded ODI series against England, while Rohit scored a comeback ton in the second game of the series. The final game of the series saw Kohli notching up a half-century too. 

Coming to the middle-order, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya were shortlisted by Bangar. Iyer impressed with fine performances against England after remerging into the national setup on the back of commedable performances in the domestic circuit. Rahul was chosen over Rishabh Pant, despite India's focus being on implementing the left-right combination. 

Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were named as the spin-bowling all-rounders. Notably, Bangar opted for Sundar ahead of Axar Patel despite the latter being in favour of making the XI due to his added utility in comparision to Sundar with the bat. Sundar played only three games in the eight-match white-ball series against England. 

Coming to the bowling attack, the experienced Kuldeep Yadav was picked as the lead spinner. As expected, Mohammed Shami was a part of the mix.   

For the unversed, Shami missed the T20 World Cup 2024 due to an ankle injury he sustained post the 2023 World Cup. He was gradually eased into the side in the limited-overs games against England. Bangar went ahead with the left-arm seam of Arshdeep Singh, who has been a much-improved bowler ever since getting on the international scene a few years back.

India are placed along with Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh in Group A. All of their games will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. They will be keen on rising to the occasion and enforce why they are renowned as one of the most powerful entities in the format. 

Sanjay Bangar's India XI for Champions Trophy 2025:

Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh