India vs England Cuttack ODI: Varun Chakravarthy makes ODI debut, second oldest Indian to do so in the format

Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bat first, with England in a must-win scenario to keep the series alive. “We’ve made two changes. Yashasvi Jaiswal misses out as Virat Kohli comes back, and Kuldeep Yadav is rested with Varun getting his debut,” Rohit Sharma confirmed at the toss. Virat Kohli’s return to XI announced by Rohit was met with a huge cheer as well. Kuldeep had made a comeback in Nagpur after an injury layoff.

“It was a good performance overall in Nagpur, it’s about continuing that. I loved our energy on the ground, despite not playing this format for a while,” Rohit added at the toss. “The counterattack from Shreyas Iyer was really good, he prides himself on playing with that intent and attitude. And Shubman Gill and Axar Patel made crucial contributions as well.”

Varun Chakaravarthy of India celebrates the wicket of Harry Brook of England during the 4th T20I match between India and England held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, India on the 31st January 2025. (Sportzpics)

11 days out from the team’s first Champions Trophy match, Varun’s inclusion comes at an interesting juncture. India have only more match before their CT campaign and Varun, as things stand, is not part of the squad named for the marquee ICC men’s event of the year. Will a good performance bring him into consideration? Before the series began, with Varun being added to the ODI squad at the 11th hour, Rohit had spoken about Varun brining something different to the table. For his 59 wickets, Varun has a List A average of 14.13 and an economy rate of 4.28 in 23 outings. He was also the leading wicket-taker among spinners in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, snapping up 18 wickets with a best of 5/9 and an average of 12.16.

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Rohit had earlier hinted that Varun could well be in contention for the Champions Trophy with the teams still having time to confirm their final contingent. “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,” he had said in Nagpur. “Clearly during the series it presents us an opportunity to play him at some stage and see what he is capable of. 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,” he added.