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Rohit Sharma has revealed that he was watching the ILT20 before the Champions Trophy, which informed the team’s decision to include Varun Chakaravarthy to the squad.
Varun Chakaravarthy took a brilliant fifer vs New Zealand (AP Photo)
Rohit Sharma and the Indian men’s team closely followed the International League T20 (ILT20), the UAE’s premier T20 franchise competition, and seeing the slow pitches here informed their 11th-hour decision to pick an extra spinner Varun Chakaravarthy in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad.
Chakaravarthy wasn’t in India’s preliminary squad for the tournament. But after his excellent performances in India’s five-T20I series against England and a 50-over international debut in the 2nd ODI, the team brought him in for opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal. Chakaravarthy played his second ODI in the last group stage match against New Zealand on Sunday and impressed with a brilliant five-wicket haul, vindicating the team’s choice.
“Looking at the surface here, hearing about what has happened in Dubai in the past two months, we somehow kind of knew that surfaces are going to be slow,” Rohit said on Monday, in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the semi-final against Australia, as quoted by PTI. “We were watching ILT20 which was played here and we thought the slower bowlers will be a lot more helpful here. If need an extra batter then anyway Rishabh (Pant) is there. So, we thought with an extra option of the spin, there is always a chance that we can play those guys,” he said.
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The skipper also credited his team for utilizing the pre-tournament practice at the ICC Academy in Dubai and adapting to the surfaces well.
“It was important for us to adapt quickly to these conditions. Luckily, we came here five or six days before, we had good training sessions and the pitches at the (ICC) Academy were very much similar to what we are going to get here. So, the adaptation is the key when you play on any surface and we adapted pretty well in all three games,” he added.
India beat Bangladesh and Pakistan by six wickets in the first two league-stage games. They’ll play the semi-final against Australia at the same venue, the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
India have a big decision to make regarding sticking with Chakaravarthy for the semi-final or bringing back pacer Harshit Rana, who played the first two games.
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
