Dubai: India have plenty of questions to solve including the selection of their pace bowling attack and would aim to find the answer when they square off against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign opener at Dubai International Stadium here on Wednesday, February 20.
Despite a clinical series win over England at home in the build-up to the ICC event, there are a few mysteries that captain Rohit Sharma and team management are yet to resolve. Can this Indian bowling unit tide over the absence of injured pace talisman Jasprit Bumrah? Can Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma summon their glory days back? Can young names like Shubman Gill ace the pressure of a multi-nation competition to deliver consistently?
With only three seamers and five spinners named in the Champions Trophy squad, one of the biggest questions was which two pacers would start for India. Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana played two games and Arshdeep got only 5 overs to bowl in the only game he played.
The 34-year-old Shami made his comeback to international cricket after a prolonged gap of 1.4 years due to an injury. However, he didn't look in rhythm and was quite wayward with his line and length. The right-arm pacer played only two games out of five and bowled only 5.3 overs. He managed to pick three wickets but leaked 50 runs at an economy of 9.09. India began with Shami in the ODI series but again didn't bowl a full quota of overs in both games. He got to bowl 15.5 overs in two games. He picked up 2 wickets per 52 runs at an economy of 6.56.
On the other hand, Rana replaced Shivam Dube as a concussion substitute to make his T20I debut and impressed everyone by picking up three wickets. His stunning outing with the ball in a T20I game helped Rana to get his ODI cap. Harshit Rana was given a chance to play all three ODIs of the series. Overall, he did well to pick up six wickets in three games at an average of 24.33.
However, he didn't look well in handling the new ball and was a little expensive as he leaked runs at an economy of 6.95. The positive side of his performance was his ability to take wickets in the middle overs and to hustle the batters with sheer pace and bounce even on the most docile of pitches.
Arshdeep, who played an instrumental role in India's 2024 T20 World Cup, could be the frontrunner to share the new ball duties because of the left-arm angle and the variety he possesses in his bowling. Having handled the pressure of ICC events, participating in the two ICC tournaments before could give him a slight edge ahead of the inexperienced as well.
Arshdeep has the knack of taking wickets and can execute the yorkers in death overs. Arshdeep's ODI career has been decent. He has picked up 14 wickets in 9 matches at an impressive average of 23.00 at a strike rate of 26.6 that included a fifer and a four-fer. In the third ODI, he provided two early breakthroughs, taking wickets in England's in-form opening pair Phil Salt and Ben Duckett.
However, it wouldn't be an easy decision to choose two pacers out of the three. India would not like to leave anything to chance as Bangladesh has proved to be the proverbial banana peel for them in the past in global events.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
