Varun Chakravarthy, who had spun a web around the English batters in the T20I series with 14 wickets in five matches including a five-wicket haul, has been added to the ODI squad for the upcoming 3-match ODI series against England, according to information shared with HT.
His inclusion will take India’s total number of spinners to five – with Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja already in the squad. The national selectors have time until the conclusion of the upcoming series to firm up the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy.
With Chakravarthy among the wickets and plenty of England batters struggling to pick him from the hand, the selectors will keep a keen eye on his performances. Although, the mystery spinner is at his best in T20 cricket, he has also delivered productive spells for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare ODI Trophy recently. Chakravarthy has played 18 T20Is for India but is yet to make his ODI debut.
The mystery spinner was put through the fielding drills in Nagpur on Tuesday with the team after which he rolled his arm over to Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill.
Roping in Chakravarthy for the Champions Trophy, however, won’t be straightforward as India would be keen to retain its batting depth in the playing 11. Jadeja, Axar and Washington are all capable batters in the lower middle-order. The team’s lead spinner Kuldeep Yadav has some batting talent while Chakravarthy is an old-fashioned tailender.
{{/usCountry}}Roping in Chakravarthy for the Champions Trophy, however, won’t be straightforward as India would be keen to retain its batting depth in the playing 11. Jadeja, Axar and Washington are all capable batters in the lower middle-order. The team’s lead spinner Kuldeep Yadav has some batting talent while Chakravarthy is an old-fashioned tailender.
{{/usCountry}}The final makeup of the bowling attack would also hinge on ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness. If Bumrah cannot recover in time from his back troubles, Harshit Rana, who is with the squad for the ODI series, is a strong contender.