Mystery spinner gets his debut India ODI cap from Ravindra Jadeja ahead of IND vs ENG 2025 2nd ODI in Cuttack [Watch]

Team India spinner Varun Chakravarthy made his ODI debut in the second ODI against England on Sunday, February 9, at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.

The home team began the series positively with a comfortable four-wicket victory in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. However, they opted to make changes to their winning combination, as they rested left-arm leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav to hand over a debut to Varun. He was rewarded for his magnificent performances in T20Is over the past few months.

Varun also troubled the English batters in the T20I series and won the Player of the Series award for topping the wicket charts with 14 scalps. The selectors then added him to the ODI squad, considering his current form. The Tamil Nadu player sat out for the first ODI in Nagpur but got a chance to prove his mettle in the second game.

Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja handed over the debut cap to Varun Chakravarthy before the contest in the group huddle.

You can watch pictures and the video of the special moment in the below post:

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"Kuldeep is rested so Varun makes his debut" - Team India captain Rohit Sharma after toss of 2nd ODI vs England 2025

Speaking after losing the toss of the second ODI, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opened up about the changes to their playing XI, saying: (via Cricbuzz):

"Two changes, Jaiswal makes way for Virat. Kuldeep is rested so Varun makes his debut."

On the team's performance in the previous match, Rohit said:

"It was a good performance in the first game. That's what I loved about it. The energy was very good despite not being on the field for a while. It was superb to watch after losing two wickets. Shreyas prides himself on that intent and attitude not to forget the contributions of Shubman and Axar as well."

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Here are the playing XIs of both teams for the second ODI -

India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (WK), Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, and Mohammad Shami.

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England Playing XI: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt (WK), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (C), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, and Mark Wood.