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India and New Zealand face off in the 2025 Champions Trophy to decide the top spot. Will India rest some players?.
Arshdeep Singh. (Picture Credit: PTI)
The fun thing about the 2025 Champions Trophy is that no match is a dead rubber, including the last league stage match between India and New Zealand on Sunday. Although both teams have qualified for the semi-finals, this match will decide who’ll finish at the top of the table and play which team from Group B.
The match also matters because it’s an opportunity for both teams to test their bench strength, though they won’t want to do that extensively and risk losing the game by a big margin. That’s because that kind of defeat can take out some of their momentum only days before the semis on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As far as India are concerned, they are expected to find the right balance and their strong bench allows them that luxury, too. In his press conference on Friday, KL Rahul — who warned that he wasn’t a member of the ‘leadership group’ — mentioned that the team had no big injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s clash.
This should mean that Rohit Sharma, who strained his hamstring while celebrating a wicket in the Pakistan clash, and Mohammed Shami, who seemed to have a minor issue with his ankle, should be fit to start. Both spend some time in the pavilion in the middle of the match, though, and it won’t be a surprise if India don’t want to risk them and play Arshdeep Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal instead.
Some reports have also suggested that Rohit and Shami could be given a break. But a deeper look at the team’s press conference would suggest that they are probably looking at only one of those changes.
“We’ve had two pretty tough training sessions, so that’s been the preparation. In terms of the bench strength, I think the priority is making sure that we have our best guys available and fully fit for the second game (semifinal on March 4),” Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters on Friday.
“But we also don’t want to rest them for another two days. So to get that balance right, we might just try to share the bowling out a little bit. But we obviously want to win against New Zealand as well. It’s important that we keep that momentum going. And obviously to top the group as well. So the balance of those two things I just mentioned for the selection to be thought about,” he added.
About Rohit, ten Doeschate gave a much more optimistic answer: “He’s all right. You can see he’s batting a little bit further than earlier. It’s an injury he’s had before, so he knows how to manage it really well.”
So, Arshdeep for Shami to get the veteran pacer some extra off-time could be the way to go for the Men in Blue. The batting order might remain the same.
There’s another call to make in the bowling attack: should Varun Chakaravarthy get a chance? That’s much more complicated because though giving the in-form spinner a go is tempting, he’s unlikely to replace Kuldeep Yadav (who took three wickets versus Pakistan) for the semi-final against New Zealand.
And playing Chakaravarthy might make Kuldeep lose his rhythm, which would only hurt the team. Unless the team decides to give one of the all-rounders a rest — which is also unlikely — Chakaravarthy will have to wait further for his chance.
India’s likely playing 11 vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)