‘Why do you need Ravindra Jadeja in the Champions Trophy squad?’: Former CSK teammate puzzled over all-rounder’s inclusion | Cricket News

India’s final lap of preparations for the forthcoming Champions Trophy in Dubai will begin this week as they gear up to face England in three ODIs, starting Thursday in Nagpur.
With uncertainty persing over Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness, the BCCI threw in a curveball on Tuesday when they named mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy as the fifth-spin option for the series ahead of the Champions Trophy final squad submission date of February 12. While the Tamil Nadu spinner has not been included in the squad for the ICC event as yet, former India batter S Badrinath highlighted a few other tricky spots in the 15-member squad, including that of his former Chennai Super Kings teammate.
Badrinath said he was puzzled as to why veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was named in the squad when India possess two other left-arm spin options in Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, regarded as key members of the white-ball unit.
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“There are a few spots which are a little bit tricky,” said Badrinath on a Star Sports preview show. “I am honestly surprised Ravindra Jadeja is in the squad. I didn’t expect him to be in the squad because there is very little space for him in the XI.”
“So why would you actually take a player in the squad who might not feature in the actual playing XI? So that is a little bit tricky,” Badrinath said on Jadeja whose last ODI appearance was in the World Cup final in November 2023.
Badrinath also backed Kuldeep to be captain Rohit Sharma’s spin lynchpin as he charters his comeback from a sports hernia surgery in December 2024. “Rohit likes him. Rohit has been backing Kuldeep Yadav since he took over the captaincy. He does whatever the other spinners don’t do,” Badrinath remarked.
“He is brave. He is the best option to go to in the middle overs. We have seen many of these foreign teams. They find it hard to read a bowler like Kuldeep Yadav,” he added.