India will be gunning for their second ICC trophy in less than a year when they take the field for the Champions Trophy 2025 from February 20 against Bangladesh in Dubai. India have already named their squad, and Jasprit Bumrah will be the biggest name missing out, because of a lower back injury, In Bumrah's absence, the onus of the pace bowling attack will be on the other senior pacer Mohammed Shami. However, Shami does not find a place in legendary India batter Suresh Raina's ideal playing XI for the mega tournament.

In an interaction with Star Sports, Suresh Raina picked his ideal playing XI for the Champions Trophy 2025. He reserved the biggest surprise in his selection of fast bowlers, as he went for the duo of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh. He also emphasized the role of Hardik Pandya as the third seamer in the side.

(Harshit) Rana provides variation, has a slow bouncer, and can swing it. Hardik Pandya will play an important role; we haven't used him much so far," Raina said.

Suresh Raina also picked Kuldeep Yadav as the trump card of the side. He said that while Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja will contain in the middle overs, Kuldeep Yadav can chip in with the wickets.

"Kuldeep Yadav is going to be very important because Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja contain well in the middle overs, bowling stump to stump; and then Kuldeep can bring in his mystery spin, particularly against Pakistan who play the sweep shot well...New Zealand have a lot of left-handers. The kind of pressure Kuldeep can create and force the batters to go for the big shot, it can lead to wickets.," he added.

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh

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