Dubai:
In the Champions Trophy (Champions Trophy 2025), Team India, who defeated New Zealand by 44 runs on Sunday, got a huge positive in victory, so it has also made it confused. This positive mystery spinner Varun Chakraborty. Varun forced Kiwis to bear the brunt of defeat by taking five wickets in the second ODI and Champions Trophy debut match. But now the confusion in front of captain Rohit is that Varun should be fed in the next do or dying match, or landed with two pacers. In such a situation, Rohit admitted that it is attractive to decide to play with four spinners, but it is also necessary to consider the correct bowling combination. On Sunday, India fed four spinners at Dubai International Stadium, who together took nine wickets. Of these, Varun Chakraborty was the most effective.
“Varun is an attractive option”
Rohit said, ‘We need to think that if we feed four spinners, then how to use them in a balanced way. If you do not feed, it does not matter. Whatever is right for us, we will do the same. We understand the position of the pitch well and know what kind of bowling will be effective. We will think about this for a day and then take the right decision, but it is definitely an attractive option.
“When he is in the rhythm, then …”
Is it being considered to feed Varun Chakraborty in the semi -finals, then he said, ‘He showed what he can do. Now we have to think how to correct the team combination. He got a chance and performed brilliantly. Even after the match, I said that there is something different inside him. When he is in the right rhythm, he bowls brilliantly and takes it to five wickets.
This is Varun Chakraborty 2.0
Significantly, Varun Chakraborty did not perform well in the T20 World Cup held in Dubai in 2021 and he could not take any wicket, but this time he made a great comeback on the same ground and gave India a big victory by taking five wickets in his second ODI only. When Varun Chakraborty played for the Indian team in 2021, he is bringing more accuracy in his bowling in 2025 and he is also getting more experience by playing in different formats. It can be said that this is Varun 2.0. Rohit Sharma believes that this is his biggest strength.
The Indian captain said, ‘If we talk about Varun, then when he played for India in 2021, now there is more accuracy in his bowling than that. Then there was a lack of some experience in his game as he did not play much cricket. But in the last two-three years, he has played a lot of matches in domestic cricket, IPL and India and now in ODIs too.
“Varun has worked on both these things”
He further said, ‘Now he has started to understand his bowling well. There is something special in his bowling, which he is taking advantage of. Even some of our batsmen could not read them properly, which is a good thing. Their accuracy has increased and the ability to change speed has become great. When I was standing in the slip, I saw that he has improved his diversity a lot. When you are a mysterious bowler, you cannot bowl in just one style. You need to change your speed, as well as putting balls in the right direction. Varun has worked on both these things and now you can see that he is taking wickets continuously, which is a good sign for our team. Apart from this, Rohit also told how it was decided to include Varun in the main team of Champions Trophy on 12 February.
“So decided to change the team”
He said, ‘We reduced a batsman to bring Varun into the team because this tournament is only five matches and there was very little possibility that the batsman would play in any match. While forming the team, you do not walk with thinking that someone will be injured. Even if this happens, we can always call another player. But the matter was different with Varun. We knew that they were more likely to play, whether someone is injured or not.
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