The Champions Trophy 2025 is approaching. India will start their last-minute preparations with a three-match home ODI series against England starting on February 06 at Nagpur. Then, on February 20, they will face Bangladesh to kick off their campaign in the eight-team tournament.
India has been decent, with their results in the tournament. In the second edition of the competition in 2000, they ended up as the runners-up, losing to New Zealand, before a washed-out result in Colombo made them co-owners with Sri Lanka in 2002. Under the leadership of MS Dhoni, they celebrated the title in 2013, beating the hosts England, and ended up as the runners-up against Pakistan in 2017.
During the recent ICC review, the former Indian coach, Ravi Shastri, was asked to shed light on what comes to his mind first when he hears about the tournament.
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India’s former spin all-rounder reckoned that Shikhar Dhawan has always been the performer who comes under the radar despite scoring consistent runs in these huge tournaments. In the history of the league, the southpaw was the third leading run-getter for the blue brigade with the help of 701 runs in 10 innings at an average of 77.88 and a strike rate of 101.59, thanks to three centuries and as many half-centuries with the best score of 125 runs.
Ravi Shastri picks Shikhar Dhawan as India’s most underrated player in the Champions Trophy
Dhawan was one of the biggest contributors for India behind them, lifting the 2013 title in England. The left-handed opening batter smacked 363 runs in five innings to be the highest run-scorer of the tournament, at an average of 90.75 and a strike rate of 101.39, shouldering on two centuries and one fifty at the best score of 114 runs.
Ravi Shastri felt that the Delhi-born had already picked up his games in ICC events, and whenever he played, he returned with flying colors.
“I thought Shikhar Dhawan’s batting from the Champions Trophy, you know, over the years, whenever he had played, was outstanding. It was a standout for me. (It was) standout for me in the way that he picked up his game for the big events.” India’s former head coach expressed this during the recent ICC review.
The 39-year-old finished his 50-over career with 6793 runs in 164 innings at an average of 44.11 and a strike rate of 91.35, with the help of 39 half-centuries and 17 centuries at the best score of 143 runs.
“There is always talk about the big players in the Indian team, the superstars, and he flies under the radar. In big events, he was a terrific player. You know, I remember a lot of his runs in the Champions Trophy. He was one of the stars of the Champions Trophy, World Cup, ICC tournaments.” The former Indian all-rounder explained.
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Rohit Sharma’s lack of form has been a concern for the blue brigade. Their vice-captain, Shubman Gill, wasn’t in good touch either in the recent five-match Test series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 before picking up a good rhythm during the recent Ranji Trophy 2024-25 game for Punjab against Karnataka with a second innings century.
Virat Kohli has been repeating the same mistake. But the hope for the fans will be to get better team results from the national side. India will play all of their games at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, including the semifinal and final if they qualify.