Indian captain Rohit Sharma comments on Varun Chakravarthy’s chances of making it to the Champions Trophy 2025 squad

Team India skipper Rohit Sharma has hinted at the possible inclusion of spinner Varun Chakravarthy in the squad for the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy. While Chakravarthy is not a part of the preliminary squad, he has been added to the squad for the ODI series against England at the last minute.

Chakravarthy has been rewarded for his stellar performances in the five-match T20I series. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer picked up 14 wickets in the series, including a five-wicket haul, at an excellent average of 9.86. He also won the Player of the Series award for his exceptional performances.

While there is a huge cry over Chakravarthy's inclusion in the Champions Trophy squad, Rohit stated that it all depends on how he performs in the upcoming ODI series.

“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 told reporters ahead of the first ODI against England via Indian Express.

“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,” he added.

Varun Chakravarthy enjoys a decent record in List A cricket, having picked up 59 wickets in 23 games at an average of 14.13 and an economy rate of below 4.5.

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Aakash Chopra bats for Varun Chakravarthy's inclusion in 1st ODI

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has backed Varun Chakravarthy to make his ODI debut in the first game against England in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that a wrist spinner of Chakravarthy's ability will have a major impact in the 50-over format. He said:

"This is a big one as well because Varun Chakaravarthy was in my original team. I felt Varun should be kept because you won't need too many finger spinners and the wrist spinners might actually have a bigger say. However, the selectors hadn't picked him."

"Now you have suddenly picked Varun Chakaravarthy here. Since you have decided to use his current red-hot form, which I think is the right thing to do, you will have to play him here now. You cannot make him warm the bench. You don't call someone from outside to have tea. Now that you have come, you have to play," Chopra added.