Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has urged the Indian team to ensure that they include mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy in Champions Trophy 2025. Karthik believes that not including Varun in the squad for the tournament could be ‘a serious mistake’ by the Indian selectors considering the fact that he is at his best with the ball right now.
Chakravarthy is one of the most sought-after bowlers in India, since his inclusion in the side in the recent T20I series against Bangladesh. He last played for the international side during the 2021 T20 World Cup held in the UAE but came back after being selected owing to the impressive wickets scoring in IPL 2024, where he was the most wicket taker for the winning franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
However, since returning to T20I cricket, he has been effective with the ball taking 13 wickets playing in just five matches in the year 2024. In the recently held match against South Africa in the 2nd T20I, he registered a five-wicket haul to assist India in winning a tough low-scoring contest in Gqeberha.
In a recent post on X (Formerly Twitter) Karthik opined that India by all means have to ensure the mystery spinner is picked in the Champions trophy 2025 squad.
“If India don’t pick Varun Chakravarthy for the Champions Trophy, then they are making a grave error. Outstanding bowler he is turning out to be,” he shared.
Chakravarthy’s impressive five wickets unfortunately ended up being a losing effort as Tristan Stubbs upped his game and batted completely through winning the match for South Africa by two wickets in a rather low scoring encounter.
Yet, Chakravarthy will remain optimistic that the performance has justified his inclusion in the ODI squad as well. Apart from T20Is, he still hasn’t crossed swords in any others and his current disposition might force him to make the move to the 50-over format.
