Virat Kohli chose to practice alone before Team India’s crucial ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match against Pakistan last week and vice-captain Shubman Gill chose to do the same on Thursday evening at the ICC Academy in Dubai. Gill had missed Team India’s scheduled practice session on Wednesday at the same venue owing to illness ahead of the their third and final Group A clash against New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium (DIS) on Sunday (March 2).
Both India and New Zealand have already booked their berth in the Champions Trophy semifinals with wins over Bangladesh and Pakistan in their first two matches. Sources close to the team suggest that Team India will be making a few changes to their playing 11 for the clash against Black Caps.
Captain Rohit Sharma injured his hamstring in last Sunday’s six-wicket win over Pakistan and didn’t bat in Wednesday’s practice session. It begs the question who will be leading the Indian side if Rohit does decided to sit out the match against New Zealand to get himself ready for the semifinal which takes place next Tuesday on March 4.
It definitely won’t be former captain Virat Kohli, who has chosen not to get anywhere close to Indian captaincy. In Rohit’s absence, ideally the vice-captain Shubman Gill should be taking his place but the Gujarat Titans captain hasn’t been keeping well himself.
Gill has been in sparkling form since his return from Australia, almost scoring fifth successive fifty in ODIs, in the match against Pakistan – getting dismissed for a brilliant 46 after scoring an unbeaten hundred in the opening match of the Champions Trophy 2025 last week vs Bangladesh.
But Gill turned up to practice along with throwdown specialists Raghu and Nuwan alongside assistant coach Abhishek Nayar at the ICC Academy on Thursday to get himself in shape ahea of the match against New Zealand.
It is expected that Gill will be taking part in Team India’s full practice session at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday evening. Indians have decided not to train on match-eve on Saturday and wicketkeeper KL Rahul is set to address the media on Friday evening at the DIS.
If Gill doesn’t pull up well ahead of the match against New Zealand, Rahul could be another option to lead the Indian side in Rohit Sharma’s absence since he has already captained the Indian side in the past.
Apart from Rohit Sharma, India could also rest Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav and could bring in Rishabh Pant, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy for the game against the Kiwis.
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