Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined on the Indian team’s seam bowling issues heading into the 2025 Champions Trophy. He also questioned whether Rohit Sharma could use Hardik Pandya with the new ball as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Every bowler is able to fulfill one role but not the other. Mohammed Shami bowls decently with the new ball but gets hit later. Harshit Rana doesn’t bowl well with the new ball but bowls well later. Arshdeep Singh was getting hit with the new ball and then he picked up two wickets with slower ones. It seems like he might do the job but he played only one match. I don’t think the Indian team are convinced whether Shami, Arshdeep or Rana would play. Two of the three will definitely play. I don’t think we have got the answer to the question. Can Hardik Pandya be a new-ball option?”

“I don’t think that’s an attacking option. It will be a very defensive option if you give him the new ball. You want to pick up wickets with the new ball and Hardik Pandya is not going to do that. If you use Shami with the new ball, you feel you cannot get him to bowl the middle and death overs as he is not in full rhythm. So that question is not answered,” Chopra again shared.

While talking about India’s spin-bowling lineup for the 2025 Champions Trophy, Aakash Chopra said that Varun Chakaravarthy’s inclusion would put pressure on Kuldeep Yadav as well.

“I feel only one of Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav will play and the pressure will be on Kuldeep because when Varun wasn’t played, it was told that he didn’t play because he had a calf strain. It wasn’t told why Shami and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) didn’t play. So if Varun had played, Kuldeep wouldn’t have played the match at all. You had to play Washington Sundar as it would be a slight justification for him being picked for the Champions Trophy. So he too was played in one match,” Aakash Chopra concluded.