The Vijay Hazare Trophy is underway and players have a great opportunity to present their case for India selection ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which will be played in February-March. India will start their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20, and three days later they take on arch rivals Pakistan. Their final group stage match is against New Zealand and depending on the outcome of the three matches it will be determined if India will progress to the knockouts.
The ICC has set January 12 as the final date to submit the provisional squad for the tournament and hence it is expected that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee will announce the 15-member team by the end of this week. However, the participating nations are allowed to make changes to their provisional squad by February 13, a week before the tournament starts.
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While fans are eagerly waiting for the squad reveal, Kolkata Knight Riders' mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has presented a strong case for selection following his haul against Rajasthan on Thursday. The 33-year-old produced a strong display and injected five blows to help Tamil Nadu restrict Rajasthan at 267/10 in 47.3 overs at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara.
Out of the five wickets, he cleaned up three (Mahipal Lomror, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed) while the other two (Abhijeet Tomar, Kukna Ajay Singh) were caught. He maintained an economy of just under six runs per over and conceded 52 runs in the nine overs he bowled.
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The spinner played a key role in derailing Rajasthan's momentum after they were onset towards imposing a big total on the board after being invited to bat first. It started with him breaking the 160-run stand for the second wicket between Tomar and Lomror, with the former getting out for 111(125). He then cleaned up Lomror for 60(49), and then Hooda for 7(8).
Varun Chakaravarthy shines in ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy
The five-wicket haul on Thursday helped Charkvarthy's wicket tally climb to 18 from six encounters. He has so far completed two five-wicket hauls. He is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, one ahead of Arshdeep Singh, who has 17 scalps from the same number of matches.
Varun Chakaravarthy's return to international cricket
Chakravarthy made a return to international cricket after a gap of three years, which was during the T20Is against Bangladesh last year. He finished the series as the leading wicket-taker, scalping five wickets from three matches. The spinner then scalped 12 wickets from four matches against South Africa, which included a five-wicket haul in Gqeberha. However, Chakravarthy is yet to earn his maiden ODI cap.
A look at India's spin bowling options for Champions Trophy
Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, and Varun Chakaravarthy are the six spinners in contention to make it to India's squad for the ICC event. If we look at the recent records, Jadeja's white ball batting hasn't been as good as it used to be and Axar Patel is being seen as way more effective in the ODIs at the moment.
Sundar is expected to make it as an off-spinner but Kuldeep Yadav's fitness is something that selectors would be fretting on. Kuldeep hasn't played a Vijay Hazare Trophy game and just in case the Chinaman spinner fails to make the cut, one between Bishnoi or Chakaravarthy is expected to be picked.
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