Dubai: Defending champions India will feature in the Champions Trophy to be held in England and Wales from June 1 to 18.
The All-India Senior Selection Meeting will held on Monday and it is likely a squad will be announced with some new faces based on the form they exhibited in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Special General Meeting (SGM) in New Delhi ended the uncertainty over India’s participation in the event with BCCI issuing a statement saying: “The BCCI SGM unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.”
The BCCI had missed the deadline to name the squad for the Champions Trophy after the International Cricket Council (ICC) had changed its revenue-sharing model that resulted in India’s share of revenue being heavily reduced.
The statement also said that the Board unanimously authorised Amitabh Choudhary, the acting Honorary Secretary of the BCCI, to continue negotiations with the ICC in the best interests of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open.
It was widely speculated that a majority of the BCCI members would want their team to pull out of the Champions Trophy as a mark of protest in reducing their revenue share.
It is understood that if India pulled out of the Champions Trophy they would have been in danger of not playing any international cricket for eight years. There is also speculation that India may field a second string team for the Champions Trophy as a mark of their protest.
It is now certain that India will accept ICC chairman Shashank Manohar’s offer of an additional $100 million over and above the $293 million that they will receive across the eight year cycle.
The Indian selectors had held informal discussions to finalise the team and if a full-fledged team is being fielded, it will be led by Virat Kohli. There are chances that experienced players like Rohit Sharma and even Shikhar Dhawan might be dropped but inform opener Gautam Gambhir might get a recall.
In the light of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s fading form, three wicketkeeper batsmen — Robin Uthappa, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson — are in contention. All three have displayed superb form in the IPL.
The spinners who are in contention are Kuldeep Yadav and Harbhajan Singh, if Ravichandran Ashwin has not recovered from his hernia injury. Pacer Mohammad Shami may return to the squad. The other pacers could be Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The all-rounders in contention are Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya.
If a second string is announced then there are chances of Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Iyer, Sandeep Sharma and even Basil Thampi being considered.