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India's legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has lauded captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir for making the brave selection call to include Varun Chakravarthy in the playing XI for clash against New Zealand ahead of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinals. Chakravarthy on his Champions Trophy debut repaid the faith of selectors with a record-breaking five-wicket haul, helping India win by 44 runs and continue their unbeaten run in the tournament.
Ashwin is in awe of how Chakravarthy narrowed down Daryl Mitchell's scoring options. Mitchell was eventually dismissed by left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav.
"I have to say this: top-class scouting, top-class analysis for Varun Chakravarthy against Daryl Mitchell. He was not allowed to step out. He did not read the turn, and he was not able to step down. India wonderfully cut down his scoring options, having fielders to cut down his sweeps and reverse sweeps," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin pointed out that the New Zealand batters could not pick which way the ball will spin. He lauded Chakravarthy for deceiving the batters with his pace.
"I don't think playing Varun is a risk. I think they are not able to read him at all. He is not beating batters on the outside edge, and that's why I am not able to understand why they are not able to decipher him. What is setting him apart? It's the amount of revs that is allowing the ball to drop. It's not dropping at 89 kph; it's dropping at high 90s. It's unbelievable skill," Ashwin added.
Chakravarthy's redemption in Dubai
Chakravarthy's last outing in Dubai was lacklustre. In the T20 World Cup 2021, he remained wicketless against Pakistan and New Zealand as India were knocked out of the tournament. Chakravarthy admitted that he was nervous but captain Rohit, senior players Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya calmed him down.
Chakravarthy to play in semifinal?
There have been calls to keep Chakravarthy in the playing XI for the semifinal against Australia on March 4. He replaced Harshit Rana in the side. Considering the spin-friendly conditions, India may go with one speciallist pacer Mohammed Shami, pace-bowling all-rounder Hardik and four spinners (including two spin-bowling all-rounders).
