"Gautam Gambhir Got His Staff, Has To Deliver": Atul Wassan To NDTV

India's ICC Champions Trophy campaign got underway on a promising note, with Rohit Sharma's men securing a comfortable victory against Bangladesh in the opener on Thursday. But, there remain some decisions, taken by the team management, that certain former cricketers and experts aren't onboard with. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's form has been a concern while Gautam Gambhir's recent results have put him in the spotlight too. Be it the last-minute changes in India's squad for the Champions Trophy or the selection of certain players in the playing XI, over others, there remain many debate-worthy points.

Former India cricketer Atul Wassan in an exclusive chat with NDTV, on the sidelines of Restaurant Cricket League, shed light on some burning topics in Indian cricket as the Champions Trophy campaign gets underway.

India decided to bench Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh for the Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh. Your call on that?

The biggest surprise for me is how can you ignore Rishabh Pant. It's very odd. During the England series, it was jarring for me to see a player like Rishabh Pant being sidelined. KL Rahul played that series, hence he had to play here (the Champions Trophy). The team is quite balanced. If Arshdeep had played, India would've had a left-arm seamer, maybe he had a niggle or something. I would've gone with Arshdeep if he was fully fit.

Other than that, India have got batting till No. 8. Axar Patel is a proper batter and we've got full 6 bowlers.

Were the selectors right in taking 5 spinners to Dubai? A lot of experts feel 4 would've been enough.

It is that time of the year where summer is just on top. We just had ILT20 where seamers did well initially but in the later part, spinners did