ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Ravichandran Ashwin drops 'uncomfortable' verdict on India squad selection

Former India National Cricket Team spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has raised questions over the 15-member squad picked by the BCCI selection committee for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Ravichandran Ashwin delivered an 'uncomfortable' verdict on the selection choices made by the committee and questioned the strategy of Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir.

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Five spinners part of Team India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Rohit Sharma will be leading the team in the competition with Shubman Gill being his deputy. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant form a great batting core, while Hardik Pandya is the sole pace-bowling all-rounder in the squad.

Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana, and Arshdeep Singh are the three seamers in the India squad, while Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Varun Chakravarthy are five spin-bowling options, of which three are proper all-rounders.

Notably, Jasprit Bumrah is not part of the final squad as he has been ruled out due to a lower back injury, and has been replaced by Harshit Rana.

Also, Varun Chakravarthy is a late addition to the squad as the mystery spinner replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was originally named in the 15-member line-up. Along with the aforementioned players, the BCCI has picked three Non-Travelling substitutes - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj, and Shivam Dube.

What I don’t understand is the number of spinners we are taking to Dubai - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin was left confused with India's decision to take 5 spinners to UAE, and he spoke in detail on the matter on his official YouTube channel, Ash ki Baat. He elaborated:

"What I don’t understand is the number of spinners we are taking to Dubai. Five spinners and we have made Yashasvi Jaiswal sit out. Yeah I understand that we take three or four spinners for a tour.

"But five spinners in Dubai? I don’t know. I think we are one spinner too many if not two. The two left-arm spinners are your best all-rounders alongside Hardik Pandya. So both Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja are going to play. Hardik will also play and Kuldeep will play.

"If you want Varun Chakravarthy in the team, then you will have to make a pacer sit out and use Hardik as your second pacer. Else you will have to drop a spinner to bring in a third seamer."

In the recently held ILT20, we saw that the ball was not turning that much - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin further said that the pitches that were on offer in the recent edition of the ILT20 didn't provide too much help to the spinners. He elaborated:

“I don’t think there is any doubt that Kuldeep Yadav will walk into the team. So how will you make space for Varun. Is he bowling well? Of course. Either you bring in Varun and Kuldeep as a duo, which I feel would be good. But my question is, in Dubai, are you expecting the ball to turn? In the recently held ILT20, we saw that the ball was not turning that much in Dubai and teams were chasing 180-run totals with ease. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the team."

Ravichandran Ashwin was also disappointed to see Yashasvi Jaiswal being dropped from the squad and said that the youngster's axing is quite unfortunate.

"Yashasvi was bringing water for the players. I was thinking what would be going on in his mind? He would have been happy that he would be in the Champions Trophy team. And now suddenly he is not in the team. It’s the same for anybody who misses out."