Fans perform havan in Varanasi, seek divine blessing before India's CT opener

Ahead of Indias opening match in the ICC Mens Champions Trophy 2025 against Bangladesh at Dubai on Thursday cricket fans in Varanasi performed a havan for their teams victory in the first match of the mega eventIndia the finalists of the 2023 edition of the ICC Mens Cricket World Cup and winners of last years ICC Mens T20 World Cup will look to make an impact in the ICC Mens Champions Trophy from the start by getting one over Bangladesh in their tournament openerCricket fans from Varanasi were seen sitting and doing the havan for the victory of Men in Blue in the ongoing competitionUttar Pradesh In Varanasi cricket fans performed a victory Yajna and Havan for Indias win in the ICC Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh After 2013 the trophy hasnt come to India and locals are hopeful for the teams success pictwittercomiJrjBgVl2lmdash IANS ians_india February 20 2025Rohit Sharmas side will be without their finest bowling asset and the National Treasure as dubbed by batter Virat Kohli Jasprit Bumrah and have banked on a spinheavy setup to get the job done for them in the tournamentTheir opponents first up are also good exponents of spin and have the capacity to dish out a surprise in big events The Tigers will take inspiration from their 2007 50over World Cup heroics against India and will back their experienced players to come good on ThursdaySpeaking at the prematch press conference India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami and Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav are fit for the Champions Trophy opening clash against Bangladesh in DubaiShami recently returned to international cricket after spending more than a year away from the game due to an injury India was deprived of Kuldeeps presence since the Test series against New Zealand last year He was referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence for the longterm resolution of his chronic left groin issueBowling fitness is fine Shami We wanted Shami to get back to bowling fitness He has played some games Whatever I have seen of him so far is perfect fine He has done the job for us over the years Hopefully he can find some rhythm in this tournament Kuldeep has returned after a hernia operation He looks quite confident and if both perform then it is great for us Rohit said in the prematch press conferenceDuring the buildup to the Champions Trophy Shami and Kuldeep featured in two home ODIs against England They toiled hard to find their rhythm and managed to scythe two wickets eachSquadsIndia Rohit Sharma c Shubman Gill Virat Kohli Shreyas Iyer KL Rahul Rishabh Pant Hardik Pandya Axar Patel Washington Sundar Kuldeep Yadav Harshit Rana Mohd Shami Arshdeep Singh Ravindra Jadeja Varun ChakaravarthyBangladesh Nazmul Hossain Shanto c Soumya Sarkar Tanzid Hasan Tawhid Hridoy Mushfiqur Rahim MD Mahmud Ullah Jaker Ali Anik Mehidy Hasan Miraz Rishad Hossain Taskin Ahmed Mustafizur Rahman Parvez Hossain Emon Nasum Ahmed Tanzim Hasan Sakib Nahid Rana