‘There only two spinners, the rest are all-rounders’: Rohit Sharma before India’s match vs Bangladesh in Champions Trophy
India skipper Rohit Sharma said on Wednesday that the team has selected 2 spinners while the other three players were all allrounders when he was asked about picking 5 spinners for the Champions Trophy. Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are the two specialists spinners while the other options in that department are Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, who all are very capable batters.
“There only two spinners, the rest are all-rounders. They can bat and bowl. We play to our strengths. The three all-rounders give a different dimension to the squad, they add a lot to the squad. We wanted to have players with two skills rather than one,” said Rohit ahead of the tournament opener against Bangladesh in Dubai.
India also have three fast-bowling options in the form of Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana with Hardik Pandya being the sole pace all-rounder.
On the event taking place after eight years, Rohit added: “It is a very important tournament like all ICC events are. We have to do lot of things right to hold the trophy.”
The Men in Blue will not be travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and will play all its matches in UAE. India will take on Bangladesh in the first game of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy and will play Pakistan on Sunday.
India and Pakistan are joined in Group A by New Zealand and Bangladesh for the Champions Trophy. The tournament started on Wednesday with the opening match between hosts Pakistan and New Zealand.
(With agency inputs)
