Former India opener Aakash Chopra says pacer Mohammed Siraj should have been in India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad. The comments come a couple of days after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-man squad for the ICC tournament, which is scheduled to be played from February 19 to March 9.

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"In my opinion, Mohammed Siraj should have been a part of this team, and I will even tell in whose place he should have been there," Chopra stated on his YouTube channel. "The team has two left-arm spinners and one off-spinner. You could have dropped one of the three. If you wished, you could have left out Ravindra Jadeja and kept Mohammed Siraj in his place."

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"I feel Siraj would have had greater value. He would have been used more. He would have contributed more to the team, and I see lesser chances of Jadeja playing. Honestly speaking, he might not play at all. So if Jadeja is not going to play, you would have had a player who would have had greater chances of playing," he added.

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Why was Siraj not picked?

During the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad announcement press conference, skipper Rohit Sharma explained that Siraj's impact with the new ball has dipped and hence he has not been selected in the squad.

“That's purely because we thought over it. We are not sure about Bumrah, whether he is going to play or not. So, we thought of wanting someone who can bowl with the new ball and at the backend. So we picked Arshdeep to bowl at the backend. Shami, we all saw what he can do with the new ball," Rohit had said on January 18.

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India have three pacers in the squad in Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh with all-rounder Hardik Pandya expected to play a role with the ball as well.