Indian Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir has expressed his opinions on Team India's chances at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 amid Jasprit Bumrah's, as the former Kolkata Knight Riders mentor suggests that young pacers such as Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh stand a great chance of 'stepping up' in the absence of the 'Cricketer of the Year 2024'.
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"Harshit has shown some good signs, Arsh(deep) was also good today. Obviously, you’ll always miss a bowler like Jasprit Bumrah, his quality and stuff. But it’s always good to have Mohammed Shami back with his quality. So someone like Harshit or Arshdeep will have to put his hand up in the Champions Trophy along with Mohammed Shami. Someone missing out could be a great opportunity for someone else too," said the Indian Cricket Team head coach.
"That’s the way the sport goes, and hopefully these guys can put their hands up and deliver," added Gambhir.
Gautam Gambhir Backs Shreyas Iyer At No.4 Slot
Gautam Gambhir has backed his former Kolkata Knight Riders member Shreyas Iyer, stating that the management has backed the right-handed batsman for the number 4 slot in the batting order, and that, he 'was always in the scheme of things'.
"On Shreyas Iyer, he wasn’t supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi (Jaiswal) a go in the first game and see what he can bring to the table, because he was in really good form in Australia. We always knew that Shreyas will be an important player for us at No.4. Be it the World Cup, or forget about even the World Cup, he is always important for us. So when you’ve got three games, you want to rotate your players a bit," said Gautam Gambhir.
"Today, we could’ve played Shami but we wanted to give Arsh(deep) a go. When you’ve got Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to maximise these opportunities and everyone a go. But Shreyas was always in the scheme of things," he added.
India Squad For ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.