New Delhi: After seven weeks of breathtaking cricketing action in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017, the focus shifts to the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, where Virat Kohli and his men are the defending champions.
After all the hustle and bustle between Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and International Cricket Council (ICC) over revenue sharing, a 15-member squad was announced by the nation's cricketing body with Virat Kohli as the skipper.
Indian selectors did not pull off any surprises in the squad and retained most of the players who appeared in a limited-overs series against England earlier this year.
Rohit Sharma will be marking his international return after missing out on months of action due to a thigh injury and will be the favourite to open innings, along side Shikhar Dhawan, just like old times. KL Rahul, still unfit, will be missing out on the campaign. However, Ravichandran Ashwin has found his name on the list after the long IPL break owing to sports hernia.
Towards the third week of May, Manish Pandey was ruled out owing to left-side strain and thus Dinesh Karthik was announced as his replacement.
Apart from this, on MS Dhoni's request, BCCI has named four stand-by players – Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Suresh Raina and Shardul Thakur.
Men in Blue have plenty of experience at their disposal in the batting department, and the only concern would be the form of their bowlers, especially spinners, who haven't been up to the mark in the last few overseas tours. It also remains to be seen whether Kohli, who remains to be the lynchpin of the Indian batting line-up, can find form after a forgettable IPL.
Here is all you need to know about the Indian squad:
Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami.
Captain: Virat Kohli
Coach: Anil Kumble
Players to watch out for: Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, MS Dhoni , Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane
Best performance: Winners in 2002 and 2013
