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Former India cricketer Surinder Khanna shared his thoughts on the omission of Karun Nair from the Champions Trophy squad despite an exceptional performer in first-class cricket. 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. "I think Karun Nair is a bit unlucky. I wish I was the chairman of selectors. He hit 300 in the test match, and after that he disappeared. Now suddenly the moon has come out again, so that moon should shine for 2-3 years and how many 35-36 year olds can you have in the team? It's a one-day format, you require quick movers in the fielding," Surinder Khanna said while speaking to ANI.
Nair was the top-run-getter not only for Vidarbha but also in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, having accumulated a massive 779 runs in seven matches at a mind-boggling average of 389.50 as he has remained unbeaten in six innings. Even after his stupendous performance in domestic cricket, the 33-year-old failed to find a spot in the 15-member squad.
In six Tests for India since his debut in 2016, he made 374 runs in seven innings at an average of 62.33, with best score of 303*. Nair also played two ODIs for India, scoring 46 runs with best score of 39.
Further, the 68-year-old raised questions on Rohit and stalwart batter Virat Kohli's fitness and said that they both should get "mentally fit" and focus on their games to come back to form.
"The captain is also weak. I mean, if you make Rohit Sharma's field on the boundary, then two runs will be easily taken. Virat Kohli also fields in slips and only does fielding inside the circle. Kohli is not making runs in the fielding, he is putting in a lot of effort in the circle. I hope they all get fit mentally and focus and come back to their form," Surinder Khanna added.
Skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli came under fire for an underwhelming Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign and overall a very disappointing 2024/25 season of Test cricket. Sharma (31 runs in three matches and five innings at an average of 6.20) and Virat Kohli (190 runs in five matches and nine innings at an average of 23.75 with a century) lacked big time with the bat. Virat fell for the outside-off-stump trap throughout the series, most notably by pacer Scott Boland who dismissed him four times.
The 2024-25 season of Tests has been miserable for 'Ro-Ko' (Rohit and Kohli). While Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with best score of 52, Virat scored a shambolic 382 runs in 10 matches and 19 innings at an average of 22.87, with just a century and fifty each.
In the end, the former cricketer lauded the management's decision to elect Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the Men in Blue for the Champions Trophy 2025.
"It is a very good and positive development. The new generation who want to take captainship from Rohit Sharma, have been given leadership roles. When Shubman Gill was sent to Zimbabwe as a captain, he went to a couple of places. The youngster has shown promise. Gill has to get his form, that's the main thing," Surinder Khanna concluded.
The freshest challenge awaiting 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 50-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.