India will begin their quest for their second ICC trophy in less than a year when they start their campaign in the Champions Trophy 2025 from February 20 against Bangladesh in Dubai. India have named their squad for the mega tournament and also made some changes just a few days prior to the start of the Champions Trophy. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin did not approve of the final squad, especially the exclusion of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was named in the initial Champions Trophy 2025 squad was removed from the final squad in favour of Varun Chakravarthy. Hence, India now have five spinners in the squad- Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin questioned the logic behind picking five spinners and dropping Jaiswal.

“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,” Ashwin said.

Ravichandran Ashwin also questioned how Varun Chakravarthy would make it to the Champions Trophy Playing XI with Kuldeep Yadav in the mix. He also emphasized the fact that the Dubai tracks did not seem spin-friendly in the recent ILT20.

“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 ILTO, 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,” Ashwin added.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.