Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin reckons Varun Chakravarthy should have named the Player of the Match award in the Champions Trophy final. India captain Rohit Sharma bagged the honour for his 77-run knock in the clash against New Zealand. The Tamil Nadu spinner reckoned that his fellow teammate deserved the award as the result of the game would have been different if he wasn’t there in the game.
“If I were the judge, I would have given it to Varun”
In a video on his YouTube channel, Ashwin opined that Chakravarthy made a huge difference despite not playing in the entire tournament. He said that because of the novelty and X-factor that the mystery spinner brought, Varun deserved to win the POTM award. He cited Glenn Phillips dismissal to justify why Chakravarthy deserved the honour, adding that he should have been the Player of the Series as well instead of Rachin Ravindra.
“Whatever said and done, the Player of the Tournament, in my view, was Varun Chakaravarthy. He didn’t play the entire tournament. He was such a big difference. If Varun Chakaravarthy wasn’t there, I think this game would have been very different. He brought that X-factor and the novelty factor. If I were the judge, I would have given it to Varun. He was the biggest difference,” Ashwin said.
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Varun finished as the third highest wicket-taker in Champions Trophy with 9 wickets to his name. In his very first CT 2025 game, he bagged a five-wicket haul against New Zealand. He was instrumental in the semi-final against Australia and in the final against New Zealand. In the ultimate clash, he finished with figures of 2/45, getting the important wickets of Will Young and Glenn Phillips.
