- Due to Gautam Gambhir being the favorite player, Team India captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar did not include this amazing player in the squad for the Champions Trophy 2025.
Champions Trophy 2025: The first T20I match between India and England was played on 22 January at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. Based on the brilliant innings of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, India easily won this match by 7 wickets. England was all out for 132 in the stipulated 20 overs, in response to which India won by 7 wickets with 43 balls remaining and took a 1-0 lead in the series.
The special thing is that the player whom captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar did not include in the Champions Trophy 2025 squad despite Gautam Gambhir’s repeated requests, the same player tore apart England and made a significant contribution in helping India win the match easily.
Turned the game on his own
The main hero of this victory was mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who took 3 big wickets by giving just 23 runs in 4 overs. Varun bowled brilliantly and sent England captain Josh Butler, Harry Brook, and Liam Livingstone to the pavilion. The special thing was that Varun dismissed Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in the same over and made India make a great comeback in the match. Varun’s mystery bowling has become a headache for the English batsmen. They were struggling to play the bowling of this fierce bowler, let alone understand it. Varun was given the Player of the Match award for his brilliant bowling.
Did not get a chance in Champions Trophy 2025
Surprisingly, Team India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar has not selected this player for the Champions Trophy 2025 starting on February 19. The team definitely includes all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar, but only Kuldeep Yadav has been selected in the team as a specialist spinner, on whose fitness there is no update yet.
Before the selection of the 15-member team, there was speculation that this powerful bowler could be included in the squad as a specialist spinner, but this did not happen and the main selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar has expressed more confidence in spin all-rounder players, the brunt of which Team India may have to face on the pitches of Dubai.
Varun shone in domestic cricket
Varun Chakravarthy performed brilliantly in the ODI competition played in India i.e. Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25. Playing for Tamil Nadu, Varun took 18 wickets in 6 matches in this tournament. He was the second-highest wicket-taker. While he took wickets at an impressive average of 12.16, he conceded runs at a cheap economy of 4.36. Despite this, he has not been included in the squad. Apart from domestic cricket, he is also performing very well for India in T20I.
Varun has played 14 matches for India so far, in which he has taken 22 wickets with a strong average of 16.63, while in the shortest format of cricket, he has conceded runs at an economy of just 6.71. At the same time, Varun has taken 59 wickets in 23 matches played in the list. During this, his average has been 14.13, while the economy is also 4.28. Despite his excellent performance in domestic cricket, he has not been selected in the squad of Champions Trophy 2025.