Arshdeep Singh Not A Starter In Champions Trophy? Gambhir Drops MAJOR HINT

When Arshdeep Singh was named in India’s squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, it was assumed that the left-arm seamer would walk into the starting XI regardless of Jasprit Bumrah’s availability. Arshdeep had topped the wicket-taking charts in the 2024/25 Vijay Hazare Trophy and his left-arm angle was seen as a major point of difference. 

However, across the three ODIs against England, it became evident that it was Harshit Rana - and not Arshdeep - who the Indian side saw as the second seamer, with the left-armer sitting out each of the first two games. 

Following the third ODI in Ahmedabad, head coach Gautam Gambhir dropped a major hint that Arshdeep might not be a starter in the Champions Trophy, talking about how India wanted to give a few ‘squad players’ a chance in the third ODI. Notably, apart from Arshdeep, Washington Sundar also played the third ODI after sitting out the first two.

“Sometimes, when you've only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well. See, like for today, we could have easily played Shami, but we wanted to give Arsh a go,” Gambhir said.

“We could have played Jadeja as well, but we gave Washi a go as well. So when you've got Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to try and maximise these three games and try and give everyone an opportunity.”

Gambhir’s answer came in response to Yashasvi Jaiswal playing the first ODI before dropping out of both the starting XI and the Champions Trophy. Gambhir said that the plan was always to ‘give Jaiswal a go’ against England to see what he was capable of. The Team India head coach further clarified that Shreyas Iyer was always in the team’s plans, even though the batter himself revealed that he would have sat out the first ODI had Virat Kohli been fit.

"He wasn't supposed to be benched throughout the series," Gambhir said of Jaiswal.

"We wanted to give Yashasvi a go in the first game and see what he can bring to the table because he was in really good form in Australia. So we wanted to see what kind of an innings can he play. 

“I know you can't judge someone by one innings, but we always knew that Shreyas is going to be an important player for us. What he's done at No. 4, be it the World Cup or forget about even the World Cup, he's just an important player.

“Shreyas was always in the scheme of things, and good that he played all the three games."