Varun Chakravarthy might yet make the India Champions Trophy team, says skipper Rohit Sharma.
News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 5th February 2025
India captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday left the door open for spinner Varun Chakravarthy to enter the Champions Trophy team, saying it all depends on his performance in the forthcoming ODI series against England.
“Yeah look, he has certainly shown something different. I understand that it is a T20 format but he has clearly got something different about him. So we just wanted to have an option and see what we can do with him,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the 1st ODI in Nagpur.
“Clearly during the series it presents us an opportunity to play him at some stage and see what he is capable of. Right now we are not thinking about whether we are going to take him or not but definitely he will be in contention. If things plan out really well for us and he does what is required then definitely there is something that we need to think about,” the Indian skipper added.
The 33-year-old tweaker might be in line for his first ODI call-up and debut, which comes only two weeks before the Champions Trophy begins in Dubai.
Chakaravarthy bowled for more than an hour against Indian hitters during a training session at Jamtha’s VCA Stadium on Tuesday. Chakaravarthy was India’s best bowler in the current five-match T20I series, which the hosts won 4-1 over England. The Tamil Nadu spinner took 14 wickets, including a five-wicket haul, the most by any Indian bowler in a bilateral T20I series.