Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the Indian team is set to lock horns with Pakistan in the fifth match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Sunday, February 23 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. It’s a do-or-die game for Pakistan as they lost their first game against New Zealand in Karachi. On the other hand, India started their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh but there were certain calls where they failed.
Former India cricketer Atul Wassan sat down with ZEE News in an exclusive conversation where he spoke about a few changes that India should take ahead of the upcoming clash against Pakistan. The Indian team is playing in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 without the services of Jasprit Bumrah as he is struggling with injury. But the good part is Mohammed Shami’s form as the right-arm pacer scalped five wickets in the game against Bangladesh.
He is BACK and HOW
for Mohd. Shami against Bangladesh!
Follow the Match https://t.co/ggnxmdG0VK#TeamIndia | #BANvIND | #ChampionsTrophy | MdShami11 pic.twitter.com/sX0dT9cCbp
— BCCI (BCCI) February 20, 2025
“(Aree Yarr bhul jaoo Jasprit Bumrah ko). This is the problem with people here, Mohammed Shami has taken five wickets in the Champions Trophy 2025 game against Bangladesh and people are still talking about Jasprit Bumrah. Cricket is a team game, why are you running after one player? Shami has regained his form and I think this is no less than a lottery for India. See either of them going to miss some matches, we should not talk about it. Australia had Sir Don Bradman, then came Ricky Ponting so it goes on and on”, Atul Wassan said.
The Indian team also decided to play KL Rahul ahead of Rishabh Pant in their season opener against Bangladesh. Atul Wassan looked disappointed by the selection of Rahul over Rishabh Pant.
“Why is Rishabh Pant not playing? He is the match-winner and X factor of this Indian team. I don’t know why they are backing KL Rahul. ( Eise toh app player ko khatam kr doge.) Rahul only played one good innings in Australia and people have put him on the pedestal. Rahul can only stay there in the middle but Rishabh Pant is X factor. They dropped Mohammed Siraj, I understand he did not take many wickets in Australia but he bowled well. But yes, Indian coach Gautam Gambhir has his own perception and preference but I will always back someone who has got experience”, he added.
The Indian team management preferred Harshit Rana who was added to the team as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement.
“I don’t understand why they played Harshit Rana. He did take wickets but conceded a lot of runs. I thought Arshdeep Singh would play. He is the left-arm pacer and brings a lot of dimension to the team. You have already got a player who has played in big-ticket matches like Arshdeep I would rather back him. I think against Pakistan, we should play a left-arm pacer”, Atul Wassan told ZEE News.
“See Kuldeep is fit enough to be in India’s playing XI. Yes, he looked out of colour a bit but then I am sure he will make a comeback. One bad match does not mean that you will drop a player, I will back Kuldeep ahead of Varun Chakaravarthy”, he opined.
Pakistan sustained a massive defeat in their opening game against New Zealand in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025. Babar Azam did score a fifty but that was way to sluggish and Pakistan ended up losing the game by 60 runs.
“Babar Azam made sure that Pakistan lost that game against New Zealand. I don’t know why they asked Babar to open the innings. He is the backbone keep him in the middle order. It looks like Mohammad Rizwan’s brain is not working. He made so many mistakes in that game. In the T20I, Rizwan mostly opens the innings, why did not he do it in the 50-over format? Just like we are running after Bumrah, Pakistan is running after Fakhar Zaman. I do not know why they are creating so much hype about Fakhar Zaman. Had it been Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, I would have understood but why him? If you are missing Fakhar Zaman then something is wrong with your cricket. He is not a legend anyway. (Teen mahine Tak agar inka coach aur captain tik jayei toh badi baat hai”, former India cricketer said.
Commenting on two stalwarts of Indian cricket, he said, “See Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the legends of the game. Let’s not comment on their future.”
Former India player Atul Wassan also made headlines when he became the league director of the Restaurant Cricket League (RCL) 2025 which started its 3rd edition with a grand inauguration ceremony. The aim of this league is to create awareness, as the tournament’s theme is “Serving Change, Delivering Impact, and Uniting Communities”.
“Since I am a cricketer, this product is cricket and the platform is cricket. The whole message is focused on a certain cause. I did not know that almost 2 crores of people go to bed hungry in India. We waste a lot of food in this country and the numbers are shocking. So since cricket is a flavour of this league, and on the back of this great game, we want to educate people about not wasting food. For every 10 runs scored, 100 nutritious meals will be given to people in need and that is our motto. The cause is the man thing and cricket is by product”.
“Every other league is commercialized and this league is not. We do not have any intention to make money. We only want to create awareness among people as to not to waste food. The amount of food we waste in India, people of the United Kingdom consume in a year”, he signed off.
