Skipper Rohit Sharma showered praise on his deputy Shubman Gill and veteran pacer Mohammed Shami for coming with game-changing performances against Bangladesh in India’s Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday. Gill made an unbeaten hundred and Shami walked away with a five-wicket haul as India registered a six-wicket win over Bangladesh at the DICS. “We’ve been in that situation many times before and like I said many times (in the past), there’s a lot of experience in that dressing room to handle that composure where it’s needed and KL (Rahul) and (Shubman) Gill at the end were quite composed,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation.

Rohit heaped praise on player of the match Gill.

“Gill, we know the class that he has, he’s been batting brilliantly of late and today what he showed us with the bat shouldn’t surprise anyone,” he said.

“What was good to see that he was there till the end to make sure that he sees off the game,” Rohit added.

Rohit also lauded Shami for his five-for that helped the pacer to complete 200 wickets in ODIs.

“Yeah, very happy for him. (It has been a) long time waiting, we obviously know what he brings to us,” Rohit said.

“The quality that he has, the kind of match winner he is developing himself into for us, every time we throw the ball at him he’s got something up his sleeves, which is always nice and we need guys like these to stand up in big moments,” he added.

Rohit said India expect the pitch here at the Dubai International Stadium to remain slow for their next Champions Trophy clash against Pakistan on February 23.

“Very hard to say that,” Rohit replied when asked if his side thought the pitch behaved as per their expectations.

“It’s just one game, very hard to make anything out of the track, but we knew there’s not enough grass on the pitch and it is going to be on the slower side and that is exactly how the pitch played,” he said.

“But again, you play (according to) the conditions. You try and think about what you want to do as a team and I thought we adapted to the conditions really well, to start with our bowling.” India were off to a brisk start but were forced to change their approach midway through the innings and Rohit admitted his side was “under pressure” chasing 229.

“With the bat as well, yes, we were under pressure a little bit. But when you’re playing a game like this, (in the) Champions Trophy (against a) quality team, you’re bound to be under pressure and that is where the experience comes into play,” he said.

The Mumbaikar said he was not happy with the dropped catch of Jaker Ali (68) which denied Axar Patel a hat-trick.

“May take him for dinner tomorrow,” he quipped.

“It was an easy catch. I should have taken that catch, the standard that I have set for myself, standing in the first slip, that was a little disappointing, but these things happen,” Rohit added.

“But again, the way these guys bowled that set the game for us to be honest, I know they were 36 for five and then they got a big partnership.” “These things are bound to happen, there will be partnerships, credit to (Towhid) Hridoy and Jaker Ali, they played brilliantly to stitch that big partnership,” he said.

Gill termed his 101 not out as “one of the most satisfying innings” for himself “Definitely (it was) one of my most satisfying innings that I’ve played and my first century in an ICC event so very satisfying and very happy with the way I performed,” he said.

“When myself and Rohit bhai went out there, cutting the ball wasn’t that easy because the balls outside the off (stump) weren’t coming onto the bat. So I thought of using my feet to even the fast bowlers when I’m trying to go over the circle,” he said.

“When the when the spinners came on me and Virat bhai were talking about in the middle that it’s not easy to score signals off the front foot,” he added.

Gill said he was asked to finish off the match. “At one point there was a bit of pressure on us and the message was sent from outside (that) I have to try to be at the end and that’s what I tried to do,” he said.

Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma reacts after denying Axar Patel a hat-trick.© X/Twitter

The Indian cricket team bowlers came out all guns blazing in its first match of the Champions Trophy 2025 as Mohammed Shami and Co. reduced Najmul Hasan Shanto’s team to 5-down inside nine overs. The Bangladesh batting line-up fell like a pack of cards as Mohammed Shami struck in the first over itself, followed by Harshit Rana‘s wicket in the third over. Shami then took the wicket of Mehidy Hasan Miraz before the real magic happen in the ninth over by Axar Patel. 

The left-arm spinner first took the wicket of Tanzid Hasan in the second ball of the ninth over as he was caught behind. On the next ball, Mushfiqur Rahim as he was caught behind too. Axar was on a hat-trick as the tension built up. The spin allrounder almost got the wicket as Jaker Ali got a thick edge as the fall flew towards Rohit Sharma at first slip. But The Indian cricket team captain dropped the catch and was absolutely livid with himself. He was seen thumping the ground in frustration.

If you want to abuse rohit sharma here is the video :pic.twitter.com/FC7yPqHDcD

— Rathore (@exBCCI_) February 20, 2025

Rohit then apologised with folded hands after his dropped catch.

Axar patel ko dekhte hi Rohit Sharma #IndvsBan pic.twitter.com/w6z3AXCul0

— Raja Babu (@GaurangBhardwa1) February 20, 2025

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bat first in their opening game of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against India at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

Bangladesh and India are placed in Group A along with Pakistan and New Zealand in their group. After this fixture, both teams will face Pakistan and New Zealand in their next two matches in the ongoing marquee event.

“We would like to bat first. Looks a good wicket so we want to put runs on the board. We have play good cricket today and the boys are confident. Three spinners, two spinners for us,” Shanto said after winning the toss.

Men in Blue skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed the playing XI at the toss and said that Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja are playing in place of Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy in their line-up.

“I would have fielded first. We have played a few years back here so we felt ball comes on better under lights. All looking good. Everyone is fit and fine to go. Let’s hope we start well. There is no looking back, every game becomes very important in this tournament. Only Varun misses out from the last ODI we played, Jadeja comes back and Arshdeep misses and Shami comes back,” Rohit Sharma said.

Teams:

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav.

With ANI inputs

Delhi Capitals Schedule IPL 2025: Delhi Capitals (DC) have had a major reshuffle to their squad following the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, and are expected by many to appoint India all-rounder Axar Patel as captain of the side. With Rishabh Pant leaving DC, the franchise retained Axar, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel. KL Rahul was the team’s headline purchase at the auction, while Australians Mitchell Starc and Jake Fraser-McGurk were also bought for big money. Delhi will be aiming for their first title win in IPL 2025.

Here is Delhi Capitals’ IPL 2025 schedule in full:

DC vs LSG – 7:30 PM IST – Marh 24 – ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vishakhapatnam

DC vs SRH – 3:30 PM IST – March 30 – ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vishakhapatnam

CSK vs DC – 3:30 PM IST – April 5 – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

RCB vs DC – 7:30 PM IST – April 10 – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

DC vs MI – 7:30 PM IST – April 13 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

DC vs RR – 7:30 PM IST – April 16 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

GT vs DC – 3:30 PM IST – April 19 – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

LSG vs DC – 7:30 PM IST – April 22 – Ekana Stadium, Lucknow

DC vs RCB – 7:30 PM IST – April 27 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

DC vs KKR – 7:30 PM IST – April 29 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

SRH vs DC – 7:30 PM IST –  May 5 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

PBKS vs DC – 7:30 PM IST – May 8 – New Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mullanpur

DC vs GT – 7:30 PM IST – May 11 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

MI vs DC – 7:30 PM IST – May 15 – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

DC Full Squad:

KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Jake Fraser-McGurk, T. Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam

Team India’s 3-0 ODI series sweep against England does instill a lot of confidence in the team ahead of the start of the ICC Champions Trophy. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli also showing signs of a return to form, the Indian team management can breathe a sigh of relief. But, there remain certain aspects of the team that a few experts aren’t confident about. One of the biggest concerns for them, going forward is the lack of clarity about India’s middle-order. In fact, a report has claimed that head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar aren’t on the same page over the selection cases of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, prompting a heated debate in the team too. 

When India’s preliminary Champions Trophy squad was picked, Agarkar had labelled Rishabh Pant as the No. 1 wicket-keeper in the team. But, he didn’t play a single ODI against England. After the conclusion of the series, head coach Gambhir clarified that KL Rahul is India’s No. 1 wicket-keeper in ODIs. The contradictory statements from the two pillars of the management don’t paint a pleasant picture.

“Ultimately, it’s very difficult to talk about individuals, but all I can say is that if Pant is a part of the squad, he will get an opportunity. But at the moment obviously, KL is our number one wicketkeeper, and he’s delivered for us. When you have two wicketkeepers in the squad, you can’t play both with the kind of quality we’ve got. Hopefully, whenever he [Pant] gets an opportunity, he should be ready for it,” Gambhir had said after the conclusion of the ODI series.

In the first ODI against England, the team had initially intended to keep Shreyas Iyer on the bench, while giving Yashasvi Jaiswal a chance at the top. But, an injury to Virat Kohli meant that Iyer played at the usual No. 3 spot, cracking a fiery half-century. The batter, since then, became a regular for the remaining two matches of the series. But, there seems to be some conflict in the team management over Iyer’s case too. 

In a chat with the Times of India, former selector Devang Gandhi lauded India coach Gautam Gambhir for helping the Indian team manage this transition but he also warned him to bring more consistency in the middle-order selection.

“Gambhir must be given due credit for working with a team in transition. He has got India dominating in the ODI format, much like India were doing from 2016-2019. What the selectors and Gambhir need to be careful about is consistency in the middle order,” Gandhi told TOI.

“The batting then was largely driven by the top three – Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. What happened then was nobody else got time to settle down from No. 4 onwards. The rest of the batting wasn’t sure of the role they had to play. “When the top order collapsed in those big matches, the rest of the batting looked clueless. Hopefully, it isn’t the case this time. If they have identified Axar as a No. 5 batter then they must look to give him a run at that number. Axar has done well but the management has to decide if he is going to be a long-term option who can rebuild and dominate an innings till the 2027 World Cup in South Africa,” Gandhi said.

For two of the three ODIs against England, the management promoted bowling all-rounder Axar Patel ahead of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, a move that baffled many. Gandhi feels even the decision to bench Iyer, though it couldn’t be fulfilled, didn’t make any sense.

“The idea to bench Iyer at the start of the series didn’t make any sense, since Iyer has been exceptional in the 2023 ODI World Cup and India have played very few ODIs after the World Cup,” Gandhi said.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has identified three potential candidates for the Delhi Capitals captaincy role – Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis – in the IPL 2025. He believes Axar could be the frontrunner given his recent rise in stature within Indian cricket. Delhi retained Axar for Rs 16.50 crore ahead of the mega auction last year, reflecting their faith in his abilities. They later secured KL Rahul for Rs 14 crore and Faf du Plessis for Rs 2 crore at the auction in Jeddah. Axar had a productive IPL 2024 season, picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.65 while also contributing 235 runs at a strike rate of 131.28 in 12 innings.

“I feel Delhi have three options. They have Axar Patel and KL Rahul, and they have Faf du Plessis as well. They retained Axar Patel. Bapu’s stature is growing. He has been outstanding of late. He is the Indian T20I team’s vice-captain,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“He will play the Champions Trophy as well and has been given a very important role in the Indian ODI team. He is mature. He is brilliant. He understands the pulse of the game. He puts the team ahead of himself. So he could be a great choice.”

Chopra also highlighted KL Rahul’s leadership experience as a strong factor in his captaincy bid. “The second is KL Rahul. I feel they got him cheap. It was a steal. He has got some captaincy credentials. He has captained India, the Punjab Kings, and the Lucknow Super Giants for three years, and they qualified for two years as well. So he could be the captain,” he noted.

While discussing left-field choices, Chopra suggested that Faf du Plessis could be an option but felt Axar might ultimately be the franchise’s pick. “I think it’s going to be a close race. One has been retained, and the other has been bought. So one between the two, or else if they want to think absolutely left-field, then Faf du Plessis, who is not getting old at all. However, I have a feeling that it could be Axar,” he observed.

In another major captaincy development, Chopra expressed surprise at the appointment of Rajat Patidar as the new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain for IPL 2025. “Rajat Patidar is RCB’s new leader. We shall find out how effective he would be. We thought it would be Kohli, but he is not. Rajat Patidar is the eighth captain. Before him, they had Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli, who captained them for the longest time.”

While RCB have not won an IPL title, Chopra emphasised that they remain a competitive side. “Great players have captained this franchise. We measure a franchise’s success on the number of trophies they have lifted. They haven’t won even one, but it is not an unsuccessful franchise. It’s a decently successful franchise without a trophy. It’s not a team that remains at the bottom of the table or close to the wooden spoon,” he remarked.

India’s dominant 3-0 series victory over England left little room for doubt about their superiority, but one aspect of their batting order drew scrutiny. In two of the successful chases, all-rounder Axar Patel was promoted up the order, leaving KL Rahul with minimal involvement. This move, seemingly influenced by head coach Gautam Gambhir’s preference for a right-left combination in the middle order, sparked debate among commentators.

Addressing the criticism, Gambhir defended the strategy, emphasizing that adaptability in the batting order is crucial to modern cricket.

“That’s the way cricket is meant to be played,” Gambhir stated during a press conference.

He added, “I know a lot of people talk about it, but that’s the way we got to play the game, and that’s the way cricket should be played. It’s not about the batting order; it’s about who can create what impact. If you have the option of putting a quality left-hand batter in the middle, why wouldn’t you do that?”

He explained that his approach is not dictated by conventional statistics but rather by the impact a player can have in a given situation.

“Why would you want to have a top five consisting only of right-handers? We don’t look at averages and stats and all that stuff. We look at who can deliver more at that number. And Axar has done fabulously well. In both games in which he got the opportunity, he delivered for us. I know there will always be talk, but this is the direction we want to take moving forward,” the head coach said.

Gambhir also pointed out that this tactical shift strengthens India’s batting depth while maintaining a balanced team composition.

“If Axar is batting at five, it only lengthens the batting, with KL [Rahul] at six, Hardik [Pandya] at seven, and Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja] at eight. Jaddu is a world-class batter, and I don’t think you can consider him a tail-ender. If you can bat till number eight, it’s always a great luxury, plus we have six quality bowling options. We just wanted a left-hander in the middle to break the top five right-handers,” he said.

While this approach has divided opinion, Gambhir remains firm in his belief that flexibility in the batting order will benefit India in the long run. With crucial tournaments ahead, including the Champions Trophy, it remains to be seen whether this strategy becomes a long-term blueprint for the team.

Representative image.© AFP

Ahead of the third T20I of the five-match series against England, India’s vice-captain and all-rounder Axar Patel was seen in an all-new role where he was seen making the vlog of the Indian Cricket Team on Monday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to their official social media handle, X and posted a video in which Axar was seen making a vlog where he covered the Men in Blue’s journey from Chennai airport to the hotel in Rajkot where the third match of the series is set to be played.

In the video, the all-rounder was seen talking to his teammates and coaching staff of the team. In the Vlog, the 31-year-old was seen interacting with the team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel, all-rounders Ramandeep Singh and Hardik Pandya and also with the leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.

Later in the video, Axar also spoke to right-arm seamer Harshit Rana as well as to the youngsters of the side like Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Dhruv Jurel.

At the end of the video, the team was seen receiving a warm welcome from the hotel management as the full team arrived at the destination for the upcoming fixture of the series.

Chennai Rajkot

Presenting Axar Patel in a never seen before Avatar

The #TeamIndia vice-captain goes behind the cam#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @akshar2026 pic.twitter.com/RuTGW8ChYN

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 27, 2025

Speaking about Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the five-match T20I series against the Three Lions where he has managed to snap four wickets in the eight overs at an average of 13.50 in the two matches so far.

The third T20I between India and England is set to be played on Tuesday at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. The match will kickstart at 7 PM IST.

India: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana.

England: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed.