With Champions Trophy 2025 in line, a year full of challenges for Team India

Jasprit Bumrah

The return of the ICC Champions Trophy after nearly eight years will mark the beginning of 2025, but that 50-over tournament won't be the only item on India's agenda. A five-match Test series of England in the summer lies in wait where India will be seriously challenged, especially because of the brand of cricket England have embraced in the last couple of years which has been immortalised as Bazball, after their mercurial coach Brendon McCullum.

The Champions Trophy was last played in England in 2017 when India were well beaten by Pakistan in the final at The Oval. This year's edition was to have been staged in Pakistan, but will be played on a hybrid model with India's matches scheduled for Dubai after the Indian government refused the national team permission to travel across the border.

No shortage of resources

India have the resources to make a strong fist of it at the eight-team tournament, which they last won in 2013 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This is a glorious chance to atone for their heart-breaking defeat in the final of the 50-over home World Cup against Australia, with several key personnel still in the reckoning and with a point to prove.

Also Read: From Champions Trophy 2025 to Wimbledon, save the dates for mega sports events

The summer tour of England will be no pushover. A side in the throes of transition will have to summon every iota of character if it is to compete with England on an equal footing. Much will depend on what kind of support Jasprit Bumrah receives on the bowling front, and how a youngish batting group shapes up. In Australia, Bumrah has been the lone ranger, plugging away with very little in terms of wicket-taking assistance from Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. India will be hoping that over the next five months, Mohammed Shami makes a complete recovery from a vexing knee problem and complements Bumrah nicely so that India can make deep inroads into an attack-minded English line-up rejuvenated by Joe Root's extraordinary form.

England will be without both James Anderson and Stuart Broad, which will be music to Indian ears even though there is great depth in the fast-bowling department with the likes of Jofra Archer, Matthew Potts, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse stepping out of the shadows. Yashasvi Jaiswal will be on his first tour of England and Shubman Gill hasn't tasted any success there, so it will be imperative that the senior batters - KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, as well as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, if they are still available and willing - meet the challenge head-on and inspire those around them.

Time to break the jinx

India haven't won a Test series in England since 2007, so they have plenty to aim for. But on the evidence of what we have seen in Australia, that won't be straightforward. Anything less than 100 per cent switched on, and Ben Stokes' men will mercilessly pounce on them.

2007
The year India last won a Test series in England