Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar backed management's decision to add mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy to the Rohit Sharma-led squad for the Champions Trophy 2025. Chakravarthy who made his ODI debut against England on February 9 was added to the team when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the updated squad.
The Karnataka-based spinner is currently in the form of his life in his recent T20I outing against England he was awarded Player of the Series for his outstanding performance. He picked up 14 wickets in India’s 4-1 series win.
Manjrekar believes that adding the mystery spinner Chakravarthy is an advantage for Team India. He is currently in the form of his life, and it could be a surprise element, as many batters have yet to face him.
“Varun Chakravarthy will make life difficult for a few teams. He’s just a bowler who is at the top of his game. Not too many people have played him as well. They’ve seen him in T20 cricket. When he’s playing for a strong team, you have the advantage of being in the game and just that psychological advantage,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to start from February 19 and the Rohit Sharma-led side will depart for Dubai on February 15 from Mumbai. The Man in Blue will start their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. Before facing India, Bangladesh will play a warm-up match in Dubai against Shadab Khan-led Pakistan Shaheens. Team India will not play any warmup games in Dubai.
Why India will not play any warmup matches in Dubai?
The Team will not play any warm-up match in Dubai because the BCCI decided against playing practice games as India is already playing a three-match ODI series against England.
India's squad for the Champions Trophy
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy
Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj, Shivam Dube