After India named a star-studded squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy, former India batter Aakash Chopra was named India's most important player ahead of the mega event while snubbing the 'Big 3' of talisman pacer Jasprit Bumrah, skipper Rohit Sharma, and ex-captain Virat Kohli.

Chopra labelled the tag on star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who will make a comeback to the ODI squad after a gap of 16 months. Hardik's last appearance in the 50-over format for India was in the 2023 Cricket World Cup clash against Bangladesh, in which he suffered an injury that ruled him out of the tournament.

"At this point, if you ask me who is the team's most important player, who is your most valuable player? Before Bumrah, I will take Hardik Pandya's name. If Hardik Pandya is not in the team, you cannot field a balanced playing XI. You are playing only 2 fast-bowlers. If you play 3 fast bowlers and then play two spinners, your batting gets short. Hardik is the only guy, who is the fast-bowler all-rounder," said Chopra on Star Sports.

While Hardik has not played any international cricket since November, as he is not part of India's Test set-up, he played for Baroda in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Hardik was key to India's triumph in the 2024 T20 World Cup with a remarkable campaign with both bat and ball. He scored 144 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151. He also took 11 wickets and bowled the tense last over in the final against South Africa.

Hardik was removed from the vice-captaincy despite being Rohit Sharma's deputy in the 2023 World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Shubman Gill has retained the role after being named in the leadership group for the tour of Sri Lanka.

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