India Drop Major Hint Of Change In Champions Trophy Squad; Record-Breaking T20 Star Set For ODI Call-Up
February 05,2025
With about a week left before the deadline to make changes to teams for the 2025 Champions Trophy, the Indian cricket team has dropped a major hint that they could make a big change to their 15-man squad, which was announced last month by chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Local reports revealed on Tuesday (February 4) that star spinner Varun Chakravarty was spotted training with the Indian team in Nagpur ahead of the first ODI between India and England at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium on Thursday (February 6).
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to drop an official confirmation of the wrist spinner joining the team, it has promoted speculation that he will be added to the ODI squad for the three-match series against England as well as the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Chakravarthy is in red-hot form and has taken 31 wickets in just 12 matches at an average of 11.25 and an economy of 7.58 since his comeback to the national team in the T20I format last year. He took 12 wickets during a four-match series against South Africa in November and set the record for the most wickets taken by an Indian bowler in a T20I bilateral series. The 33-year-old broke the record in the recently concluded series against England with 14 scalps in five matches.
It is worth noting that Chakravarthy is yet to make his ODI debut and has never been part of any Indian team in the 50-over format. However, he proved his prowess in the longer format of white-ball cricket by taking 18 wickets in six matches in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy for Tamil Nadu. Only Arshdeep Singh (20 wickets in 7 matches) got more scalps to his name in the competition.
It is worth noting that there are already four spinners in the Indian ODI team for the England series and the 2025 Champions Trophy, and the Rohit Sharma-led side faces a tricky call to bring the star spinner into the squad. While Kuldeep Yadav is the lone wrist-spinner, there are three all-rounders, which include two left-arm spinners (Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel) and off-spinner Washington Sundar.
India decided to name the same squad for the ODIs against England as the one that will travel to Dubai for the 2025 Champions Trophy apart from Harshit Rana, who is part of the side as cover for Jasprit Bumrah, who is unlikely to be fit for at least the first two games.
The development comes just hours after former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin claimed that he has a feeling that Chakravarthy will be part of the Champions Trophy squad.
"We are all talking about whether he should have been there (Champions Trophy squad), I am thinking there is a chance he might be there. I have a feeling he might make it. There is a chance because all teams have named only a provisional squad. So, he might get picked," said Ashwin on his Youtube channel.
It is worth noting that teams are allowed to make an infinite amount of changes to their squads till February 12. After the deadline passes, teams can only replace injured players, who will have to be approved by the ICC technical committee.