Why Harshit Rana was picked ahead of Siraj as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement and Varun Chakaravarthy made it to CT squad

India’s deliberation about adding Varun Chakaravarthy to their Champions Trophy squad was evident when the mystery spinner was drafted into the country’s ODI squad for the three-match series against England. Harshit’s inclusion dates back to the original Champions Trophy squad announcement press conference by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma.

Agarkar had said that Bumrah’s inclusion was subject to fitness clearance. When they were asked about a possible replacement in case Bumrah failed to regain his fitness before the tournament, Rohit quietly mentioned Harshit Rana’s name and not Mohammed Siraj’s, even though Agarkar had decided not to reveal his cards.

The moment Bumrah’s unavailability became official, Agarkar had a meeting with Rohit and Gambhir and decided to go ahead with Rana. They also picked a fifth spinner in the squad in Chakravarthy, who was also added for the England series. The fall guy this time was young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who wouldn’t be finding a place in the playing XI with Rohit and Shubman Gill opening the innings.

Jaiswal is among the non-travelling reserves along with Shivam Dube (like-for-like for Hardik Pandya) and Mohammed Siraj (like-for-like for Mohammed Shami).

The question here is, why Rana and not Siraj? Siraj was one of India’s most consistent performers in ODIs in 2023. His exploits with the ball also took him to the No.1 ODI rankings. In fact, despite not playing much ODI cricket in 2024, Siraj was at No.6 in the ODI rankings till last night.

Why the need for another spinner when there were already four options in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar? And if they really needed Chakaravarthy to be a part of the squad, shouldn’t it have been in place of one of the all-rounders?

It is because of coach Gambhir. Chakaravarthy, who has been very successful in T20Is, made his ODI debut in Cuttack based on his T20 form and the KKR bowler is a personal favourite of head coach Gambhir, reported news agency PTI.

Two picks in this Champions Trophy squad are based on Gambhir’s recommendations — Rana and Chakravarthy — both of whom coincidentally are also part of IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders.