Aakash Chopra urges India to not bench Kuldeep Yadav for Varun Chakravarthy in Champions Trophy

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has urged the Indian management to not bench Kuldeep Yadav for Varun Chakravarthy in the upcoming Champions Trophy. Chakravarthy was finally added to India’s Champions Trophy team, replacing Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad.

The mystery spinner has been added to the squad after impressing one and all in the five T20Is against England. The 33-year-old spinner bagged 14 wickets in five games at an average of 9.86 and thus he was awarded Player of the Series.

On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav played in the first ODI against England at Nagpur and returned with figures of 1-53. Subsequently, Chakravarthy made his ODI debut at Cuttack and had figures of 1-54 in his quota of 10 overs.

Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel has picked five spinners in the Champions Trophy squad – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy.

Chopra wants India to back Kuldeep Yadav as their premier spinner in the eight-team tournament.

“India has picked 5 spinners for Champions Trophy. FIVE. Sharjah would be an ideal venue for this squad. Spin To Win. Dubai?? Not so sure. That surface hasn’t helped spinners as much…ever. Also, I really hope that Kuldeep isn’t benched for Varun. Play both if you must…but Kuldeep has to be India’s premier spinner,” wrote Chopra on X, formerly Twitter.

India will kick off their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on February 20.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.