‘Who will the selectors drop…’: Ashwin backs Varun Chakaravarthy to make cut for India’s Champions Trophy squad | Cricket News

Former India spinner R Ashwin has made a bold claim and gone head to back to in-form sensation Varun Chakaravarthy to bolt into the ODI set-up ahead of the Champions Trophy, starting later this month in Dubai.
Chakaravarthy has been in the form of his life during the recent England T20I series, spinning a web around the visitors with 14 wickets, including a five-wicket haul. The 33-year-old broke his own record to set a new high for most wickets an Indian in a T20I bilateral series as the hosts drubbed England 4-1 in the five-match series.
The Tamil Nadu spinner’s international career was in the wilderness after a lacklustre debut stint during the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE and his senior statemate Ashwin has now backed him for a return through the 50-over format just in time for yet another ICC tournament in the country. Yet to make his ODI debut, Chakaravarthy has stacked up 59 wickets from only 23 L A appearances. Ashwin feels that India could make a change to their provisionally announced 15-member squad include Chakarvarthy before the February 12 deadline. India had initially named four spinners in the squad, namely Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar.
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“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,” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“But if you look at the exing squad, if a seamer goes out and Varun comes in, it will be an added spinner (five). I don’t know who they would want to drop (if they think about getting Varun in). We will wait and see,” he added.
Ashwin said Chakaravarthy could be seen in action during the forthcoming three-match ODI series against England, the squad for which is the same as the originally announced Champions Trophy team. “I have a feeling that Varun might get a chance to play in the ODI series between India and England. I don’t think it’s an easy call to take him directly to the Champions Trophy. He has not played ODIs. I have a feeling they will give him a chance in the ODI series. If they don’t give him a chance here, then it’s difficult,” Ashwin said.
With uncertainty around Jasprit Bumrah, there is a possibility that Chakarvarthy could join the ODI squad for the series to be played Nagpur, Cuttack and Ahmedabad. Story continues below this ad
India Champions Trophy and ODI squad:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.