"A new 'Kulcha' has come" - Aakash Chopra lauds Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy's performances in 2025 Champions Trophy

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that the Men in Blue got their new 'Kulcha' in Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal were earlier called 'Kulcha' when the two wrist spinners operated in tandem in white-ball cricket.

While Kuldeep registered figures of 2/40 in 10 overs, Chakaravarthy delivered a spell of 2/45 in his 10 overs as India restricted New Zealand to 251/7 in the 2025 Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday, March 9. Rohit Sharma and company achieved the target with four wickets and an over to spare to lift a second successive ICC white-ball trophy.

In a video shared on his YouTube 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener noted that the Men in Blue have found a new wrist-spin pair. As for Kuldeep's performance in the 2025 Champions Trophy final, he said (14:10):

"A new 'Kulcha' has come. It used to be Kuldeep and Yuzi Chahal earlier. Now 'Cha' is Chakaravarthy. I will put my hand up and say that I thought Kuldeep might not get a chance in the final. However, Kuldeep got a chance and he bowled a googly to get the dangerous Rachin Ravindra out with his first ball."

Chopra added that Kuldeep's dismissal of Kane Williamson (11 off 14) soon after he got Rachin Ravindra (37 off 29) out put New Zealand behind the eight ball.

"He didn't stop there. He got Kane Williamson out. You almost pushed them back by 25-30 runs. You instilled life in this game by dismissing Rachin Ravindra. Kuldeep Yadav has been outstanding. It seemed like he had floundered a little against Australia, but he has continued to impress. You need skills to pick up wickets in the middle overs," he observed.

Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up seven wickets at an economy rate of 4.79 in five innings in the 2025 Champions Trophy, castled Rachin Ravindra with his first ball in the final. He then took Kane Williamson's return catch to reduce New Zealand to 75/3 in the 13th over.

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"He was a slightly left-field selection" - Aakash Chopra lauds Varun Chakaravarthy's performances in 2025 Champions Trophy

Varun Chakaravarthy picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 4.53 in three innings in the 2025 Champions Trophy. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Varun Chakaravarthy wasn't part of India's initial 2025 Champions Trophy squad and in their playing XI for their first two group games.

"Let's talk about Varun Chakaravarthy's mystery. He was a slightly left-field selection. His name wasn't even there in the initial selection. Harshit Rana came for Jasprit Bumrah and Varun came for Yashasvi Jaiswal. He didn't play against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and you started wondering whether he would play or not," he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the mystery spinner had a telling impact once he was included in the XI as the fourth spinner.

"Then India went for the jugular. They played four spinners. They got Varun Chakaravarthy to bowl even in the powerplay. When Travis Head was hitting, he was given the ball. New Zealand got off to a flier. So he was called and got Will Young out. He played only three matches. In such a short career, he has made a mark," Chopra observed.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra noted that Varun Chakaravarthy's comeback has been better than the setback at the start of his career. He pointed out that the Tamil Nadu spinner's cricketing obituary was written on the same Dubai ground in the 2021 T20 World Cup, and that those old pages would be torn now.