
India (Photo Source: BCCI/X)
India will take on England in the third and final match of the ODI series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 12. India have clinched the series by 2-1 with four wickets each win in the first two games. The third ODI is a dead rubber but it is crucial for both the teams to carry momentum going into the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.
India seem to have working on their blueprint for the Champions Trophy. This could be sensed as they have tried Yasahasvi Jaiswal as the opener and going back to Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the preferred opening pair. On the other hand, England will be gutted as Jacob Bethell will miss the event due to a hamstring injury and their pace battery is leaking a lot of runs.
India Champions Trophy 2025 squad
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah (Subject to fitness), Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
Here are India’s 3 most impact players:
3. Shubman Gill
After a string of low scores in the red-ball cricket, Shubman Gill has come among runs in the ongoing ODI series. He has played two games and has scored 147 runs at an average of 79.50. The batter was tested at the number three spot and he excelled scoring a half-century. In the subsequent game, he was back as an opener alongside Rohit Sharma and stitched a century partnership. He is also the leading run-scorer in the series so far.
2. Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja played only three games in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was included in the squad for England ODI series and Champions Trophy 2025 and the all-rounder is the highest wicket-taker in the series so far. He has played two games and plucked six wickets bowling just 19 overs. The left-arm spinner has averaged around 10.17 and has bowled at an economy rate of four runs per over.
1. Virat Kohli
The former India captain also was among the several Indian batters who have not got runs lately. Since the century in the Perth Test in November 2024, he has failed to score substantial runs individually. The fans awaited Virat Kohli’s comeback innings in the ODI series, but the right-handed batter missed the first game due to a knee issue and was only back in the Cuttack ODI.
His comeback to white-ball cricket was not a memorable one as he was dismissed for just five runs off right balls. He was plucked out by Adil Rashid and the debate of his struggle against the spin has taken a new turn. But, Kohli could not be counted out as the veteran is touted as the best white-ball cricketer ever to grace the international stage and it will only make sense that a fitting knock is just around the corner.