Varun Chakravarthy was the last-minute inclusion in the India squad for the Champions Trophy in place of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal as well. Chakravarthy came into the squad following a stellar season in the T20 series. When asked about the spinner’s inclusion, Rohit Sharma said Chakravarthy was picked for a reason.
“He doesn’t throw many variations in the net. He throws the ball in the same way. Maybe he doesn’t even want to show us what he has (laughs). But that is a good thing. He has got a certain weapon that he wants to put out there when it actually matters. I am more than happy if he wants to do that. But he has got something different which is why he is here with us. Whatever we have seen of him in the last 8-9 months, it has been very impressive.”
Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav have not played much international cricket due to injuries recently. They are back in the side but have yet to pick their form as well. In Bumrah’s absence, expectations will be high from Shami, who was the best bowler for India in the 2023 ODI World Cup as well.
“They both are fine when it comes to bowling fitness. Shami has played only two ODIs and obviously a couple of T20s as well.All we wanted with Shami was to get back wearing the Indian colours more than anything else. Whether he gets wickets or not, that was completely immaterial for us at that point. We wanted him to get back to playing for India and he has done that,” he added. “Whatever I have seen of him so far, he looks absolutely fine. When you talk about a bowler like Shami who has done the job over the years so many times for us, for them it is just about getting back to their rhythm and hopefully we can find some rhythm early on in this tournament and help the team.”
On Kuldeep, the skipper added: “Kuldeep, again very similar, was injured, had a hernia operation just after the New Zealand series and was out of action for two and a half months. For him also it was important to get back playing and get back into that rhythm. The two games that he played, the numbers will not show and with certain players you don’t have to look at numbers so much and in detail. For certain players it is just about getting back to playing.If these two guys are in form, the team looks very good.”
