Rohit Sharma-led Team India will not take part in the Champions Trophy 2025 warm-up matches - Report
In what comes as a shock to many, Team India, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, are unlikely to take part in any of the Champions Trophy 2025 warm-up games, the Indian Media reported on Monday, 10th February.
According to the report of Geo News, the Indian team, who are currently engaged in a white ball bilateral series event versus England, will depart for Dubai on the 15th of February, where they are scheduled to play all of their Champions Trophy 2025 matches.The news report further suggested that the 2013 winners will not be playing any warm-up games before the commencement of the eight-team tournament.
This development comes two weeks after it was reported that the Men in Blue would play at least one warm-up contest versus the United Araba Emirates (UAE) or Bangladesh (BAN) in the city of Dubai but now that plan has reportedly been discarded.
The 2025 edition of the tournament, comprising of a total of 15 games, will commence from 19th February and it will culminate on 9th March. This mega event of this year will be played across three venues of Pakistan - Lahore, Karachi & Rawalpindi and in Dubai for Team India.
Rohit Sharma & his men will kick off their Champions Trophy campaign on 20th of February as they will be locking horns versus Asian-Rivals Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium of Dubai. Following the conclusion of this match, the Men in Blue will then take on Fierce-Rivals Pakistan in a highly energetic & mega hit contest, scheduled to take place on the 23rd of February at the same stadium.
Their group-stage phase will come to an end with the conclusion of their final match versus the Blackcaps in Dubai on the 2nd of March.
Team India are sweating over the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah
The Indian team have already unveiled their 15-player squad for ICC's Champions Trophy 2025 tournament in January but the availability of elite seamer Jasprit Bumrah is uncertain as he continues to recover from the back-injury he suffered versus Australia.
As per the latest update of the Indian media, the final call regarding his place in the team is slated to be taken tomorrow i.e on 11th of February, the deadline date for the submission of the final & confirmed Champions Trophy squads to the ICC.
Bumrah is a key part of the Indian Team and the fans would want him to be completely fit for the Champions Trophy.
Team India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad
Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja & Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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