'We have two spinners and three all-rounders' - Rohit Sharma responds to India's selection critics

India will get their Champions Trophy 2025 underway against Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. The previous edition's runners-up have been in sensational 50-over form as they are coming off a 3-0 series win against England at home.

Ahead of the campaign opener, skipper Rohit Sharma has stated that the team is aiming to play to their strength in the ongoing marquee tournament. He also elaborated on the utility of the trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar as being crucial to the side with not only the ball, but the bat as well. 

"I am not looking at them as five spinners. Those three guys can bat and can bowl also. Baaki dusre teamo mei fast bowlers all-rounders rehte hai, toh wahan pe bolte hai ki 6 fast bowlers liye hai inhone, achha hai (other teams have fast bowlers as all-rounders, and it's quite often said that it's a good thing that there are six fast bowlers in the team). Par hum, humari jo strength hai, hum uspe kaam karte hai aur uspe team chalaane ki koshish karte hai (speaking about our side, we stick to our strengths and try to make our team based on that," shared Rohit told media on the eve of Bangladesh clash.

"Those three guys -  Jadeja, Axar, Washington - give us a different to the game, to our combination, to our squad. They add a lot to this team and give us a lot of depth. That is why we wanted to get players who have two skills rather than one skill," added Rohit.

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Other than the aforementioned players, India have included Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy in their 15-member roster too. On the other hand, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana were the pacers who were drafted. Owing to their recent form, it will be interesting to see how they fare on a Dubai track which is expected to offer decent assistance to the spinners.