Probable Playing XI for India against Australia in Champions Trophy 2025: Varun Chakravarthy in, Arshdeep Singh out

If Chakravarthy does make a return, he won't be the one to step aside. In addition, Rohit Sharma seems inclined to stick with the current line-up as India prepares to take on Australia in a crucial ICC tournament match.

Hardik Pandya performed second pacer duties very well indeed against New Zealand. With Mohammed Shami still looking far from being back to his best, India will be relying on Pandya to continue providing the goods with the ball in hand in the first 10 overs.

Importantly for them, Pandya also seemed to be in good touch with the bat against New Zealand, providing a very good late surge that took India close to 250. Shreyas Iyer has been metronomic at No.4, showing that he has the skills to hunker down or go big depending on the situation. Axar Patel has been a revelation at No.5 as well and he seems to have improved his fielding skills as well, in addition to being as reliable as ever with the ball. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli have both had their moments in the group stage as well.

At the end of it all, though, India would be hoping that Rohit himself strikes the jackpot this time. His efforts to go as big as possible early on has clipped his contributions with the bat thus far in the tournament and it was his 92 off 41 balls that made the difference in India's victory over Australia in the 2024 T20 World Cup - a rare win for them in this fixture as part of a big tournament in the years since the pandemic. The ideal scenario for India would be their top three of Rohit, Gill and Kohli all firing to the best that they can, regardless of whether they are batting first or chasing.

India’s playing XI vs New Zealand:

Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill

Top and middle order: Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk)

All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja

Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

ICC Champions Trophy , ICC Champions Trophy Schedule , and Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table – stay ahead with real-time match updates, team standings, and insights. Check live cricket score , player stats, and ICC rankings of top players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . Get expert analysis, match previews, and in-depth coverage of ICC CT 2025, IPL 2025 Schedule and IPL 2025, all on HT Crickit, powered by Hindustan Times – your trusted source for cricket news along with India vs New Zealand Live Score. .freemium-card h4{color:#fff; padding-bottom:20px;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{padding-bottom:16px; color:#fff;} .freemium-card .freemium-content{width: auto; max-width: inherit;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{max-width:inherit; font-size:18px; padding-top:0; line-height:24px} .freemium-card .btnSubc{margin} .freemium-card .btnSubc a{background:#000; color:#fff; min-width:auto; padding:5px 15px; border-radius:6px; font-size:16px; line-height:22px; font-weight:700;} .freemium-card{height:285px} @media (max-width: 767px) { .freemium-card h4{font-size:28px} .freemium-card .freemium-content{max-width:360px; padding: 20px;} .freemium-card{height:303px; background-position: 100% 0; } }