Varun Chakravarthy was given a nod over Kuldeep Yadav as the spin-bowling specialist for India’s opening match against the USA, where he had a decent outing, registering the figures of 1/24 at an economy rate of 6.00 in 4 overs. Chakaravarthy was an obvious choice, given that he has been quite impressive since his return to the T20I setup in 2024, picking 57 wickets in 30 matches before the marquee event.
Tamil Nadu’s mystery spinner’s consistent performance in the T20Is resulted in Kuldeep Yadav missing out on his place in the playing XI for the USA Opener. While Kuldeep remains a strong option, Team India management is expected to stick with Varun Chakravarthy, as they may not want to change the bowling combination for the Namibia clash.
With the Pakistan clash coming up on February 15, Team India is likely to maintain a settled playing XI against Namibia, focusing on rhythm and balance.
India’s Likely Playing XI: Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel (VC), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy.