Now that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has ended, the entire focus has shifted towards the ICC Champions Trophy. Although most don’t rate the tournament as highly as the ODI World Cup, for teams they are still fighting for an ICC title, which isn’t easy to come by unless you are Australia.
India’s lack of preparations for Champions Trophy
To prepare for the ICC Champions Trophy, teams have been playing tons of ODIs. Since November, Pakistan has played nine 50-over matches. As the hosts of the tournament, it makes sense that they have prepared as best as possible for the event. However, the Indian cricket team hasn’t been able to do that. In fact, since playing in the ODI World Cup Final in November 2023, Team India has played just 6 ODIs.
Jaiswal, yet to make ODI debut
While most of the batters who feature for Team India are well-tested in the format, some aren’t. Yashasvi Jaiswal is likely to be included in the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy. It’s not just that he hasn’t made his ODI debut yet but hasn’t even played a List A match since November 2022.
Shubman Gill & Yashasvi Jaiswal: ODI & List A stats
| Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 50s | 100s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shubman Gill (ODI) | 47 | 2328 | 58.20 | 101.74 | 13 | 6 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal (List A) | 32 | 1511 | 53.96 | 86.19 | 7 | 5 |
Why Gill & Jaiswal should have play England T20Is
There is no doubting his talent or ability, but a lack of white-ball cricket might affect him. His last international limited-overs game was about 6 months ago. He needs to kick his feet up after a two-month long tour of Australia, but then again, he needs to get into the ODI rhythm if he’s going to be included in the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy.
Shubman Gill has plenty of experience in ODIs, but he needs form on his side. He’s got an excellent record but runs were there at the moment. We know both have been rested. But they are just 23 and 25, respectively. If there is a time that they can overwork themselves, it’s now. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has chosen otherwise.
There are three more ODIs against England in early February, but will that be enough? That, only time will tell.
India’s squad for England T20Is
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
