India right-arm leg breaker Varun Chakravarthy became the second oldest ODI debutant for India when he received his maiden ODI cap on 9 February 2025.
Varun Chakravarthy who made his international debut in a T20I match against Sri Lanka in July 2021 waited almost 42 months to make his ODI debut. Ahead of the second ODI of the England tour of India 2025 at Cuttack, Ravindra Jadeja handed the ODI cap to Varun Chakaravarthy.
Notably, Varun Chakravarthy is the oldest debutant for India outside of their inaugural match in the ODI format in 1974.
Oldest ODI debutants for India
- 36y 138d Farookh Engineer vs Eng Leeds 1974
- 33y 164d Varun Chakravarthy vs Eng Cuttack 2025 *
- 33y 103d Ajit Wadekar vs Eng Leeds 1974
- 32y 350d Dilip Doshi vs Aus Melbourne 1980
- 32y 307d Syed Abid Ali vs Eng Leeds 1974
Debut 🧢 ✅
Varun Chakaravarthy will make his first appearance for #TeamIndia in an ODI ✨
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/NReW1eEQtF#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @chakaravarthy29 pic.twitter.com/TRah0L7gh9
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025
After being forced to bowl first, Inda captain Rohit Sharma said “It was a good performance in the first game. That’s what I loved about. The energy was very good despite not being on the field for a while. It was superb to watch after losing two wickets.
Shreyas prides himself on that intent and attitude and not to forget the contributions of Shubman and Axar as well. Black soil pitch, not sure. Maybe play on the slower side, that’s what I expect. Two changes, Jaiswal makes way for Virat. Kuldeep is rested so Varun makes his debut.”
India Playing XI for 2nd ODI vs England: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
IND vs ENG 2nd ODI Pitch Condition
This is a high-scoring venue. 63 and 64m square boundaries and 73m hit down the ground. I will do a knuckle test first, it’s not hard as the last pitch we played at and it’s cracked so it might spin a bit in the last 30 overs.
While the Sun is out through the day. I think the ball will come on nicely. I feel the pitch is a bit abrasive. It might slow down in the second half of the first innings. You might want to bowl first and there might be a bit of dew in the second half. The pockets at mid-wicket are short so spinners will have their task cut out.
India vs England Head to Head ODI Stats
India and England both faced 108 times in the ODI format where India won 59 games while England emerged victorious on 44 occasions. Following are the complete India vs England Head to Head ODI Stats details:
| India | England | |
| 108 | Matches | 108 |
| 59 | Won | 44 |
| 44 | Lost | 59 |
| 03 | No Result | 03 |
| 02 | Tied | 02 |
| 35 | Home Won | 23 |
| 18 | Away Won | 17 |
| 06 | Neutral Won | 04 |
