You cannot make Varun Chakaravarthy warm the bench: Aakash Chopra

Cricket powerhouse and hosts India have announced their squad for the England ODI series along with the team for the Champions Trophy 2025 as well. Notably, Varun Chakravarthy’s name was missing from the list. India decided to go with spinning all-rounders Ravindraja Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and a lone spinner in the form of Kuldeep Yadav. As it stands out, due to Jasprit Bumrah’s unavailability for the ODI series, Varun was included in the squad overnight as per the updated squad. 

It is worth noting that, the 33-year-old has not played an ODI for India and is just 18 T20Is old. He had a memorable 2024, having played seven T20Is, he claimed 17 wickets at an average of 12.41. Moreover, in the recently concluded series against England, he was Man of the Series claiming a staggering 14 wickets in five games. After his inclusion in the ODI setup, former India cricketer, Aakash Chopra advised the Indian team not to lose on his service by keeping him away from the playing XI. 

"This is a big one as well because Varun Chakravarthy was in my original team. I felt Varun should be kept because you won't need too many finger spinners and the wrist spinners might actually have a bigger say. However, the selectors hadn't picked him," said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

"Now you have suddenly picked Varun Chakaravarthy here. Since you have decided to use his current red-hot form, which I think is the right thing to do, you will have to play him here now. You cannot make him warm the bench. You don't call someone from outside to have tea. Now that you have come, you have to play," Chopra added.

Also Read: Aakash Chopra questions BCCI over Jasprit Bumrah's absence from England series

India ODI squad vs England

Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy.