India has one final chance to prepare for the Champions Trophy when they play against England in a three-match ODI series starting next month. This weekend, team selectors will meet to choose the squad for the series and the Champions Trophy.
Before this important meeting, former Indian cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Sanjay Bangar shared their picks for the 15-member squad to face England, which begins on February 6. Both experts agreed on the same starting 11, with star players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma leading the batting lineup. However, they had different choices for the reserve players.
Manjrekar and Bangar both selected KL Rahul as the main wicketkeeper and Sanju Samson as the backup, leaving out Rishabh Pant. They noted that Pant had not played well in ODIs since returning from injury. Bangar said, “Rahul should be your first-choice keeper.”
When it comes to the middle-order batsmen, both experts chose Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul again, just like they had for the 2023 ODI World Cup. Bangar said, “Iyer and KL Rahul are my no. 4 and 5. They were excellent in the World Cup.”
Manjrekar suggested adding Sarfaraz Khan and Tilak Verma in the middle order and said Suryakumar Yadav should only play in T20Is. He even mentioned the option of Dhruv Jurel as a backup wicketkeeper because of his skills.
Here are the final teams both experts selected for the ODI series against England:
Sanjay Manjrekar’s India XI:
– Shubman Gill
– Rohit Sharma
– Virat Kohli
– Shreyas Iyer
– KL Rahul
– Hardik Pandya
– Axar Patel
– Kuldeep Yadav
– Arshdeep Singh
– Mohammed Siraj
– Mohammed Shami
Reserves:
– Sanju Samson
– Yashasvi Jaiswal
– Ravindra Jadeja
– Sarfaraz Khan
Sanjay Bangar’s India XI:
– Shubman Gill
– Rohit Sharma
– Virat Kohli
– Shreyas Iyer
– KL Rahul
– Hardik Pandya
– Axar Patel
– Kuldeep Yadav
– Arshdeep Singh
– Mohammed Siraj
– Mohammed Shami
Reserves:
– Yashasvi Jaiswal
– Suryakumar Yadav
– Ravindra Jadeja
– Sanju Samson
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