KKR influence over Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy's selection in CT 2025? Reports make massive "Gautam Gambhir's call" statement

India Cricket Team, on Tuesday (12th February), made massive changes to their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament with a back injury, which he faced during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, and it no doubt will jolt India's chances. 

In place of Jasprit Bumrah, India added Harshit Rana to the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The Kolkata Knight Riders pacer made his debut in the first game of the ongoing ODI series against England and so far looked decent in the first two games. 

Another massive change that India made in their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was to replace Yashasvi Jaiswal with Varun Chakravarthy. This came as a big surprise because Jaiswal was forced to make his debut in the first ODI against, and had Virat Kohli not got injured and Shreyas Iyer not scored runs, he would've played all three games. 

Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy have been added to the team on the recommendation of head coach Gautam Gambhir - Report

The inclusion of Varun Chakravarthy, who made his debut in the second ODI against England, also came as a surprise because India already had 4 spinners in the team and out of 15 players, the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will now feature 5 spinners. 

Also Read: Riyan Parag Statement : Finally After Months Cricketer Riyan Parag Speaks On His Leaked Youtube Search History

With India making huge changes to their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, it saw them facing massive criticism. However, a report in PTI has mentioned both Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy have been added to the team on the recommendation of head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Both Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy are part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise that was mentored by Gautam Gambhir. The head coach will now be hoping that his idea to add both players to the team pays off and India wins the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. 

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be kick-starting on 19th February, and India will be playing their first game on 20th February against Bangladesh.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy

Also Read: IND vs ENG: KL Rahul's below average performance with the bat might lead to Rishabh Pant getting a chance in Ahmedabad