R Ashwin has revealed the Indian player that deserved the Player of the Tournament for Champions Trophy 2025 over Rachin Ravindra.
Legendary all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes India spinner Varun Chakravarthy deserved to win the Player of the Tournament award at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
While Varun impressed in the tournament with nine wickets from three matches, it was New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra who won the Player of the Tournament award. Rachin finished the Champions Trophy as the highest run-getter with 263 runs from four matches (two centuries).
“Whatever said and done, the Player of the Tournament, in my view, was Varun Chakravarthy. He didn’t play the entire tournament. He was such a big difference. If Varun Chakravarthy 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 during a show on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat.
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Varun Chakravarthy was a late inclusion to the Indian side for the Champions Trophy. He replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad, with the batter being demoted to the non-travelling reserves list. Varun dismissed New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips in both, the group stage match and the final.
“Just look at how he dismissed Glenn Phillips. He wasn’t covering the stumps, so Varun went wide of the crease and bowled that googly. In my view, Varun has to be the Player of the Series. The award should be given to someone who made the biggest difference. Varun Chakaravarthy deserves the Player of the Series award,” added the Tamil Nadu cricketer.
Ashwin was all praise for skipper Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir for leading from the front in India’s Champions Trophy title victory. India were also missing the injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah for the tournament.
“I am so happy for Rohit and Gautam Gambhir. Just spare a thought for GG. What must he be going through? Losing Test series against New Zealand, you have been losing a few. But you made a remarkable decision. There was no Jasprit Bumrah. Remarkably, this Indian team won the Champions Trophy without Bumrah. What does it tell you? Where does it leave Indian cricket? I am so happy. I think the world will take some time to catch up with Indian cricket,” commented the 38-year-old.
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