Champions trophy squad announced

     After a long drama between BCCI and ICC finally BCCI announced squad for Champions trophy.
      Manish Pandey, who hasn't played for the national side in the 50-over format since the series against New Zealand in October last year despite being selected for the subsequent one-day series against England, was named in India's 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy announced on Monday (May 8) - a day after the BCCI gave the all-clear to participate in the tournament.

      Rohit Sharma, the opening batsman, returns to the set-up after having been ruled out for four months in November last year due to a thigh injury. So far, in the IPL, he has scored 183 runs in 10 innings for Mumbai Indians, who are the first team to qualify for the play-offs.
       
          While KL Rahul hasn't sufficiently recovered from his shoulder injury, Ravichandran Ashwin, the ace offspinner, who missed the ongoing Indian Premier League 2017 with a sports hernia injury, was named, along with Ravindra Jadeja, with the duo to share spin responsibilities.
Ashwin played a crucial role in helping India hoist the Champions Trophy in 2013, picking up eight scalps at an average of 22.62. "Ashwin's selection was not a difficult decision. He's had rest, isn't out of form. We've been preparing him for the Champions Trophy" said MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors after the announcement.
         The major talking point prior to the           announcement was whether Ajinkya Rahane will retain his place in the set-up. The elegant batsman has been in average form in the ongoing IPL, evidenced by the fact that he has compiled just 248 runs at an average of 20.66. However, the MSK Prasad-led selection panel showed their faith in the veteran batsman by naming him for England.
         
           Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, who had      plundered 972 runs at an average of 81 to go with an astonishing strike rate of 107 in the 2016-17 Ranji season, wasn't included.
"We are completely impressed with Rishabh Pant. But he missed out because of squad combination. We will groom him for the future," noted Prasad. The former wicketkeeper-batsman also pointed out that the selectors had pondered over whether to select Kuldeep Yadav, the slow left-arm unorthodox bowler, who he said "missed out narrowly".
   
      The chinaman bowler took a four-wicket haul on his Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala. He has also picked up nine wickets at an average of 31.22 in the IPL 2017.

             In addition, apart from Pant and Kuldeep, the others who were considered and will be kept as stand-by options are Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina and Shardul Thakur, for who visas are being sorted out. They will, in the meantime, train at the NCA in Bangalore.
             
                Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami will form a formidable pace attack. While Shami hasn't played an ODI since the World Cup 2015 semifinal, Bhuvneshwar is the leading wicket-taker in the IPL with 21 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 14.47 and an economy rate of under 7.
There was no place for Harbhajan Singh or Gautam Gambhir, despite both veterans being among wickets and runs respectively in the ongoing IPL.
            Gambhir, in particular, has been prolific with the bat for Kolkata Knight Riders amassing 425 in 12 games, averaging 47.22, the third-highest run-getter for the season. Raina, who is on stand-by is the second-highest with 434 in as many games fir Gujarat Lions, behind only David Warner.
      The Virat Kohli-led Indian side will start their campaign with a game against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 4 at Edgbaston.

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit, Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami

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