mumbai�मुंबई : Men's selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar spoke openly about batsman Karun Nair's omission from Team India's 15-member Champions Trophy squad. Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday announced the 15-man squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 and the ODI series against England. Held a press conference to announce the one-man squad.
Nair is the team's leading run-scorer so far in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, having scored 752 runs in seven matches at an average of 752.00 and remained unbeaten in six innings. Despite his stellar performance in domestic cricket, the 33-year-old player failed to make a place in the 15-member squad. Speaking at the press conference, Agarkar said that Nair has been playing well, but it was “difficult” for him to get a place in the Men in Blue squad for the ICC event. “Karun Nair is playing well, but it was difficult for him to find a place in this team,” Agarkar told reporters.
The 33-year-old player has also scored five centuries and one half-century in the competition, with his best score being 163*. His strike rate is 125.96. In the semi-final against Maharashtra on Thursday, Nair played a quickfire inning of 88* off 44 balls with the help of nine fours and five sixes and helped Vidarbha post the match-winning score of 380 runs. Maharashtra could score only 311/7 runs. This strong performance in the tournament has earned Nair praise from the cricket world and fans alike, with many demanding that he get another call up to the Indian team. Nair, who last played for India in March 2017, was the only player after legendary opener Virender Sehwag to score a Test triple century for India.
In six Test matches for India since his debut in 2016, he scored 374 runs in seven innings at an average of 62.33 with a best score of 303*. Nair also played two ODIs for India, in which he scored 46 runs with a best score of 39. India's latest challenge is the ICC Champions Trophy, which will start from February 19 and run till March 9. It will be hosted by Pakistan and UAE. The biggest match of the tournament will be played between two arch rivals India and Pakistan on 23 February. India will start its campaign against Bangladesh on 20th February. India's last league match will be against New Zealand on March 2.
The team led by Rohit Sharma will play all its matches in Dubai. India's squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja. (ANI)
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