The team comprised four players from the victorious Indian side, three from New Zealand and one from Australia, England, Afghanistan, and South Africa.
Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin made a few bold calls as he picked his team of the tournament from the recently-concluded Champions Trophy 2025, where India beat New Zealand to lift the title for an unprecedented third time in history. However, the trophy-winning skipper, Rohit Sharma, failed to make the cut.
R Ashwin picked his best XI from Champions Trophy 2025
The team comprised four players from the victorious Indian side, three from New Zealand and one from Australia, England, Afghanistan, and South Africa.
Despite Rohit showing his class with a stunning knock of 76 in the final of the Champions Trophy, which helped India beat New Zealand by four wickets, the 37-year-old was overlooked, with Ashwin picking New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and Ben Duckett of England as his opening combination. Ravindra was named the ‘Player of the tournament’ after finishing as the highest run-getter with 263 runs. Duckett finished third on the list with 227 runs, which included a record knock of 165.
The legendary spinner then named India’s top two run-scorers, Virat Kohli (218 runs), Shreyas Iyer (243), and Josh Inglis and David Miller, to complete the middle-order line-up. Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Omarzai, who rose to the top spot in ICC ODI rankings during the tournament, was picked as the fast-bowling all-rounder, while New Zealand’s Michael Bracewell was picked as the spin-bowling all-rounder.
No place for Mohammed Shami
The veteran India fast bowler played an impressive role as the pace spearhead, picking nine wickets in five games, which included a five-wicket haul. Yet he was overlooked as Ashwin picked just one specialist pacer – Matt Henry – who finished with a tournament-best 10 wickets in four innings at an economy rate of 5.32. He had unfortunately missed the final owing to a shoulder injury.
Ashwin, however, picked two India spinners – Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav. The former finished as India’s best bowler in the tournament despite missing the first two matches. The mystery bowler picked nine wickets in three games at an economy rate of just 4.53. Kuldeep, on the other hand, snared seven wickets in five matches. Ashwin also picked a 12th man in Mitchell Santner.
Ashwin’s Champions Trophy 2025 Team of the Tournament: Rachin Ravindra, Ben Duckett, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Josh Inglis, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Michael Bracewell, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Matt Henry.| 12th man: Mitchell Santner.
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