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Former India cricketer Maninder Singh believes that the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy will be the Suryakumar Yadav-led side's 'X factor' in the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup 2025. The continental tournament is scheduled to start on September 9. India will start their campaign the next day against the UAE at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai.
Chakravarthy, who has been added to India's squad for the marquee event, has made a memorable comeback over the past year. Since his comeback, the wrist-spinner has been the leading wicket-taker in T20Is among full-member nations, claiming 31 wickets in 12 innings at an average of 11.25 and an economy rate of 7.58.
Apart from T20Is, Chakravarthy also had an impressive outing in ODIs, where he played a crucial role in India's Champions Trophy 2025 triumph. He ended the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker with nine scalps in just three outings.
“He’s a material somebody, who’s very smart, not many of that breed in world cricket. So I feel that he’s going to be very effective amongst the three Indian spinners in the Asia Cup. He’s a very smart bowler. He knows how to bowl in different situations and reads batters very well. He may look blank on the outside, but he’s a real thinker,” said Maninder Singh as quoted by IndiaToday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have already announced India's squad for the mega event, where the management picked Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy as spin options. India Test captain Shubman Gill was rewarded with vice-captaincy after his memorable outing in the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 against England.
INDIA SQUAD FOR ASIA CUP T20
Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
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