Predicted India Playing XI vs Pakistan: Chakravarthy vs Kuldeep toss-up & Gambhir to continue with Rana?

Pakistan have a 3-2 head-to-head record in their favour when it comes to ICC Champions Trophy matches against India.

So, the moment we were all waiting for has almost arrived. After all the drama that unfolded for months and months, India and Pakistan are set to battle it out at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on February 23. Pakistan, despite their embarrassing defeat in the tournament opener, would be gunning to repeat their Champions Trophy 2017 final heroics. India, on the other hand, are better placed as they ticked most of the boxes in a sluggish game against Bangladesh.

A win for India will all but see them through to the semi-final, while Pakistan’s campaign hangs by a thread. As for India, the places of Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav are under a scanner. Let us have a look at how the Indian team would shape up in the mega showdown on Sunday.

India Playing XI: Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Iyer—immovable

The Indian batting order is stacked. The talent is filled in excess, with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill slotted as openers. Prior to the India vs England ODIs, there were talks of having Yashasvi Jaiswal but Gill’s consistency in this format is through the roof. Gill is averaging 120.00 after 4 ODIs so far this year, with two centuries and as many half-centuries. His splendid ton against Bangladesh was undoubtedly one of his best knocks in the format. As for Rohit, his selfless nature has been paramount in giving India rapid starts.

On the contrary, Virat Kohli would be somewhat under pressure this time. The man who has dominated this fixture ever since his debut has not been amongst runs for some time now. Kohli had an ordinary Test season followed by a bad one-off Ranji Trophy game for Delhi. He played just two ODIs against England, scoring 52 in one of them. Regardless, Kohli is a megastar who often packs a punch in huge games and there’d be no better moment for him to score runs than on Sunday.

At number four should obviously be Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai-born batter has made the number four slot his own, having mustered 1593 runs at 51.38 and at an SR of 103.64. Guess what? Iyer remains the only player in ODI history to have a 50+ average and 100+ SR at that position!

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India Playing XI: All-rounders & KL Rahul also certain

Now comes a formidable set of all-rounders. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja would be a handful on a tricky Dubai track. Gautam Gambhir’s admiration for having a left-right combination has demoted KL Rahul to one position. This has enhanced Axar’s role in the team, who now operates as a powerplay specialist and even as a consolidator at number five.

An unbeaten 41 in 47 balls would’ve done a world of good for KL Rahul, who was somewhat out of touch after being pushed to number six. Elongating the batting we also have Hardik Pandya, who is a match-winner in his own right. His batting works as a proper finisher in the team, while the bowling could be reduced to bowling slower ones on the Dubai deck. Incredibly, Pandya has an average difference of 42.8 when he plays against Pakistan. This is his best by some margin (next best vs AUS (22)). Ravindra Jadeja was almost unplayable in the ODIs against England, against whom he took six wickets at 10.17.

India Playing XI: Rana vs Arshdeep, Varun vs Kuldeep

Now, the only scope of change in the Indian team lies in the bowling department. While Mohammed Shami solidified his stature with his sixth ODI fifer against Bangladesh, the other two spots could be looked at. Harshit Rana shared the new ball with Shami on Thursday. He did find three wickets but faced some criticism for reportedly getting a favour from Gautam Gambhir. Some challenged Rana for utilising the KKR bias of his India head coach. Regardless, he was on point. The Delhi-born lad took a three-fer and was utilised his hit-the-deck ability to extract something extra off a placid Dubai track. Harshit could be a middle-over enforcer to support Pandya, something in Arshdeep Singh might now excel at.

Gambhir's wish for Chakravarthy or Rohit's backing of Kuldeep—who will win tussle for a spot vs Bangladesh

However, what Arshdeep could do is to create havoc with the new ball. He has all the charisma to do the talking with the new ball, something that he did in the T20 World Cup match against Pakistan in 2022 and in 2024. However, we hardly think that the Indian think tank would change Harshit for Arshdeep, especially after the right-armer accounted for three wickets on his ICC debut.

Another tussle is between a spot for a frontline spinner. Varun Chakravarthy’s reinvention has been heartful to witness. No one has taken more T20I wickets than him since his return in October last year. However, India went with Kuldeep Yadav in the Bangladesh clash. On a track that was quite slow and under the sun, Kuldeep was largely ineffective. But we have to keep in mind that Hardik Pandya dropped a sitter off Kuldeep’s bowling.

The chinaman was looping in the air and face the brunt of a magnificent partnership between Jaker Ali and centurion Towhid Hridoy. Having said that, Kuldeep went wicketless and there are talks if Chakravarthy could replace him in the playing XI.

Dubai’s pitches have traditionally assisted spinners, but not all spinners thrive there. Kuldeep has a strong ICC tournament record and has delivered under pressure, but Varun’s ability to bamboozle batters with his variations could be an asset against Pakistan’s lineup, which could struggle against mystery spin in the past. Don’t be surprised if we see Kuldeep getting replaced by Chakravarthy.