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India's recently retired off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been highly impressed by Varun Chakravarthy who made an emphatic Champions Trophy 2025 debut claiming a five-wicket haul against New Zealand on March 2. Ashwin wants Indian captain Rohit Sharma to not just play Chakravarthy in the semifinal against Australia but hand him the new ball to counter the Travis Head threat early on in the innings.
“New ball and give it to Varun and ask him to bowl over the stumps to Travis Head,” Ashwin said on his Youtube channel “Ash Ki Baat.”
“Travis Head shows all his three stumps and then clears his leg and hit it over the field. Varun Chakravarthy with new ball might give India an edge. It will be a mouth watering contest,” he said.
What if Head doesn't take on Chakravarthy?
Ashwin predicts Head will not change his approach against Chakravarthy and the match-up for India will be a double-edged sword. If Head does not play his natural game early on, Ashwin wants Chakravarthy to continue bowling the new ball in first powerplay.
“I would be very surprised if Travis Head will take on a back seat against Varun. He would love to go aggressive and it will high-risk option. Either he will give Australia good start or India will get him out cheaply.
“If Travis Head doesn’t take him on, then keeps Varun on for five overs.
“This Australian team has too many right-handedness and for that we have Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel."
Ashwin wants Rohit to bowl first, cautions against Johnson
While Rohit has lost 11 consecutive tosses in ODIs, Ashwin has advised him to bowl first if the toss goes in India's favour. In addition, he backed India to score big if they bat first but cautioned them of left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson who can bowl a fiery spell.
“Win the toss, put them to bat. Give them the responsibility to set the total. If we get Travis Head’s wicket then it will be India’s game to control.
“If India will bat first, there is no doubt in my mind that India will score above par score unless Spencer Johnson bowls a fiery first spell.
“India will go in the game as a favourite with this spin choke but Australia will have nothing to lose.
“If new ball will be given to Varun then I don’t see Head scoring more,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rohit has remained tight-lipped on the team combination. In the pre-match press conference, he did not guarantee whether Chakravarthy will be in the playing XI or not.
