Karthik leaves Yashasvi Jaiswal out of India's starting XI in Champions Trophy, deeming him as backup: ‘I’m pretty confident…'

After clinching the T20 World Cup title, Rohit Sharma and the rest of the team are now eyeing their next white-ball ICC trophy - the Champions Trophy 2025. With limited time to shuffle the team combination, the selectors and team management are likely to stick with the core group of players from the 2023 ODI World Cup. Nevertheless, there could be room for talented newcomers like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has showcased his potential in Tests and T20Is over the past year, to make their way into the squad.

Meanwhile, former India wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik asserted that Jaiswal is going to be a backup opener as Shubman Gill is expected to retain the place as Rohit Sharma's opening partner.

“Why? Rohit and Shubman are a very good combination. Yes, Jaiswal has a great opportunity to be the backup opener and will get his opportunity soon if Shubman doesn’t go as well as expected. And India has a very solid middle order as well," Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Shubman has been elevated to the vice-captaincy role recently after Gautam Gambhir took over the coaching charge. The young opener pipped the likes of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to become Rohit's deputy in ODIs.

Team India recently lost the ODI series to Sri Lanka and now it will play only three more 50-over games to get themselves some game time before the Champions Trophy.

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Karthik also suggested that India won't experiment much with their opening pair, considering they have only three matches left for the tune-up to CT 20255.

“In the lead-up to the Champions Trophy, they are just going to be playing three more games. And I am pretty confident it’s going to be Rohit and Shubman opening for the Champions Trophy,” he added.

With Ishan Kishan out of the scheme of things, Jaiswal, who is yet to make his ODI debut, is expected to get the go-ahead as the backup opener for India in the mega ICC title next year.

Meanwhile, the ICC has to take a final call on whether Pakistan will host the entire Champions Trophy or will adopt the hybrid model, as the BCCI has reportedly decided not to travel to the neighbouring nation.

The PCB has already submitted its draft schedule to ICC, keeping India games in mind. In the draft schedule, India are scheduled to play all their matches in Lahore, including a possible semi-final and final. The India vs Pakistan marquee match has been scheduled on March 1.

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