Former Indian cricketer Surinder Khanna has expressed his displeasure over Karun Nair not being given a place in the Champions Trophy team despite his brilliant performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 and ODI series against England. Vidarbha’s leading run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, Karun Nair, who scored 779 runs in seven matches at an average of 389.50, did not find a place in the Champions Trophy squad.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Surinder Khanna said, “I think Karun Nair is a bit unlucky. I wish I was the chairman of selectors. He scored 300 runs in a Test match and then disappeared. Now suddenly the moon has come out again.” So the moon should shine for 2-3 years and how many 35-36 year old players can there be in the team, this is the ODI format, you have to react fast while fielding? Players are needed.”
Karun Nair scored five centuries for Vidarbha. The important thing was that he remained unbeaten in six innings. Despite his excellent performance in domestic cricket, the 33-year-old player failed to make a place in the 15-member team. In six Test matches for India since his debut in 2016, he scored 374 runs in seven innings at an average of 62.33, with his best score being 303*. Nair also played two ODI matches for India, in which he scored 46 runs and his best score was 39.
Apart from this, 68-year-old Surinder Khanna raised questions on the fitness of Rohit and veteran batsman Virat Kohli and said that both of them should be “mentally fit” and focus on their game to get back in form. Surinder Khanna said, “The captain is also weak. I mean, if you field Rohit Sharma on the boundary, you will easily get two runs. Virat Kohli also fields in the slips and only inside the circle. Kohli is not scoring runs in the field, he is working very hard inside the circle. I hope he will get mentally fit and get back to his form.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli are facing criticism after their disappointing performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and flop in Tests last year. Rohit Sharma scored 31 runs in five innings of three matches at an average of 6.20. Whereas Virat Kohli scored 190 runs including one century in nine innings of five matches at an average of 23.75. Virat was caught in the outside-of-stump trap throughout the series, especially fast bowler Scott Boland dismissed him four times.
Apart from this, Surinder Khanna praised the management’s decision to choose Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of Men in Blue for the Champions Trophy 2025. Surinder Khanna said, “It is a very good and positive step. The new generation who want to take over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma, have been given leadership roles. When Shubman Gill was sent to Zimbabwe as the captain, he played a few places. But the young player has shown promise. Gill has to find his form, that’s the main thing.”
Indian team for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant. , Ravindra Jadeja.
