The Indian captain Rohit Sharma has provided a massive hint on Varun Chakravarthy in contention for the Champions Trophy but also said that it would depend entirely on his performance.
After Chakravarthy was spotted training with the Indian ODI squad for the series against England, he was officially included in the team after being ignored for the contest.
This sparked speculations that India is considering the spinner as an option for the ICC event and Rohit Sharma eventually cleared up the stance in the pre-match conference.
Speaking to the media in the VCA Stadium ahead of the opening game, Rohit Sharma said that the selection certainly put Chakravarthy in contention for a place in the Champions Trophy, but it depends up on his performance.
“Yeah look, he has certainly shown something different. I understand that it is a T20 format but he has clearly got something different about him. So we just wanted to have an option and see what we can do with him,” the 37-year-old said.
“Clearly during the series it presents us an opportunity to play him at some stage and see what he is capable of. Right now we are not thinking about whether we are going to take him or not but definitely he will be in contention.”
“If things plan out really well for us and he does what is required then definitely there is something that we need to think about,” the Indian skipper added.
Chakravarthy proved to be exceptional during the five match T20I series against England where he picked 14 wickets. He also emerged as the second highest wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy which ended last month, with 18 wickets in six matches at 12.16.
He has played 23 List A games for Tamil Nadu picking 59 wickets at 21.15, with three five-wicket hauls.
Coming to the England tour of India, the hosts has picked four spinners for the Champions Trophy, it is to be seen who will make way for Chakravarthy, if he impresses the selectors and the management.
