Mumbai, January 18: Team India captain Rohit Sharma called seamer Mohammed Siraj missing out from the Men in Blue squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 "unfortunate" and elaborated on the fast bowling combination, the team was looking for amid concerns over Bumrah's fitness.
Ajit Agarkar and skipper Rohit Sharma held a press conference on Saturday to announce the 15-member squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 and ODI series against England.
Siraj made his debut in the 50-over format in 2019 against Australia, following that he has appeared in 44 matches and picked up 71 wickets at an economy rate of 5.18. His last ODI match was against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2024.
Speaking at the press conference, Rohit Sharma said that they wanted to pick a squad where they have options with someone who can bowl with the new ball and also at the back end, for which Siraj was axed from the 15-member Men in Blue squad.
The captain added that the team management wanted pacer Arshdeep Singh to come and play the role at the back end.
"We are not sure about Bumrah, whether he is going to play or not. So, we wanted to pick a squad where we have options of both somebody to bowl with the new ball and somebody to bowl at the back end. So, obviously, with Bumrah missing or not sure, we wanted Arshdeep to come and play that role of bowling at the back end. And Shami, obviously, we saw what he did with the new ball," Rohit Sharma told reporters.
The captain accepted that Siraj's effectiveness comes down if he is not bowling with the new ball.
"That is where we feel that Siraj's effectiveness comes down a little bit if he is not going to take the new ball. We discussed it at length about it and we are only taking three seamers there. Because we wanted all these all-rounders with us," he added.
Rohit added that the team management had no option other than taking in the guys who could perform a certain role.
"It's an unfortunate thing that he has to miss out. But we had no option but to get the guys who could perform a certain role. I personally feel that we have guys who can bowl with new ball and be effective in the middle and then effective at the back end...," he added.
Rohit pointed out that Arshdeep Singh has been in the white ball cricket for a long time and can handle the pressure in the upcoming ICC tournament.
"Arshdeep hasn't played a lot of ODI but he has been around the white ball circuit for a long time... He has been there enough and he has bowled some tough overs in white-ball cricket. So, I definitely think he can handle that pressure," he further added.
The freshest challenge awaiting for Team India is the ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 19 till March 9. It will be hosted by Pakistan and UAE, with India playing its matches in UAE under a hybrid model.
The eight-team tournament will feature 15 fifty-over matches and will be played across Pakistan and in Dubai.
The biggest match of the tournament between two arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on February 23. India will start its campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. India's last league match will be against New Zealand on March 2. The Rohit Sharma-led side will play all their matches in Dubai
India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.
