'Rohit and Shubman are a very good combination' - Dinesh Karthik keeps Yashasvi Jaiswal as backup opener in India's Champions Trophy starting XI

Dinesh Karthik opined that the impressive Yashasvi Jaiswal will be in India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad only as a backup opener.

Since making his international debut last year, Yashasvi has gone from strength to strength in Tests and T20Is but has failed to break into the ODI setup. To speak about his scintillating performances in Tests, the Mumbai batter averages a staggering 68.53 from nine matches and has two double centuries under his belt. Meanwhile, in T20Is, he is striking at 164.32 at an average of 36.15 from 23 games. With the amount of talent the Southpaw has, it seems only a matter of time before he would become one of India's most reliable batters in the 50-over format.

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However, Karthik feels that India would not disrupt the opening combination of captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill during next year's Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan.

“Why? Rohit and Shubman are a very good combination. Yes, Jaiswal has a great opportunity to be the backup opener and will get his opportunity soon if Shubman doesn’t go as well as expected. And India has a very solid middle order as well," Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Shubman has been promoted to the vice-captaincy role recently after Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach of the Indian team. The Punjab batter pipped the likes of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to become Rohit's deputy in ODIs.

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Team India recently lost the three-match ODI series to Sri Lanka by a 0-2 margin and are only left with three more 50-over matches in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy. Karthik feels that India would not want to experiment with their batting line-up too much as they do not have many games to prepare.

“In the lead-up to the Champions Trophy, they are just going to be playing three more games. And I am pretty confident it’s going to be Rohit and Shubman opening for the Champions Trophy,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.