"Was in the heads of English batters" - Former India all-rounder looks forward to mystery spinner's debut in IND vs ENG 2025 2nd ODI

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his eagerness to witness how Varun Chakravarthy goes about his business on his ODI debut against the English batters in a different setup altogether. The mystery spinner, a late addition to the squad, replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI for the second ODI at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday, February 9.

Chakravarthy earned a call-up to the ODI squad after picking up 14 wickets in the five-match T20I series against England. The visiting batters struggled to pick up the spinner's variations regularly. They also did not fare any better against spin in the four-wicket loss in the first ODI in Nagpur.

With Kuldeep Yadav returning after a lengthy injury layoff and looking a bit rusty in the series opener, it paved the way for Chakravarthy to feature for India in the 50-over format.

Irfan Pathan noted how mystery spinners' role varies from format to format following Chakravarthy's inclusion in the playing XI.

"One-day game has a different pace than T20. In the shorter format, batters generally force the pace, so mystery spinners come into play a lot more than in 50 overs. One thing for sure, Varun Chakravarthy was in the heads of English batters during the T20 series. I’ll be very interested to see how he goes about his work in the 50-over format," Pathan wrote on X.

Varun Chakravarthy will have a huge role to play in the middle overs against the out-of-sorts England middle order. With Ravindra Jadeja expected to tie down one end, Jos Buttler and company have a tough task ahead of them in trying to deal with the mystery spinner on top of that.

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Varun Chakravarthy has picked up 59 wickets in 23 List A matches ahead of India ODI debut

The Tamil Nadu spinner mostly renowned for his exploits in the shortest format in national colors, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), has a brilliant List A record too.

Since making his debut in the format in 2018, Chakravarthy has played 23 matches, picking up 59 wickets at an average of 14.13 and an economy of 4.28. He picked up a five-wicket haul in his most recent List-A appearance, coming at the Vijay Hazare Trophy preliminary quarter-final against Rajasthan.