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With the highly-anticipated ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 now less than a month away from start, a lot of eyeballs are on the squads, which are set to be submitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by February 12. Although, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on January 18 named their 15-member squad for the marquee tournament, set to get underway from February 19 in Pakistan and the UAE.
Team India’s ODI and Test skipper Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the side, Shubman Gill has been named his deputy for the 50-over tournament. However, the side also includes the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya and several others, former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin recently called out for a change.
R Ashwin calls for the addition of Varun Chakravarthy in place of a seamer
Speaking on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’, former India international Ravichandran Ashwin called for the inclusion of spinner Varun Chakravarthy. His opinion came following Chakravarthy’s blistering performance in the recently-concluded T20I series against England, where he finished with 14 wickets and also won the Player of the Series award.
"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 existing 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 also added that there remains a probability of the ace spinner getting into the ODI squad for the England series, which is set to commence from February 6 in Nagpur.
"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 India vs England ODI series," Ashwin added. It is to be noted that Varun Chakravarthy hasn’t played any ODI for India until now.
India’s squad for ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (Subject to fitness), Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk) and Ravindra Jadeja.