Kevin Pietersen Picks His India XI For ICC Champions Trophy 2025; Varun Chakaravarthy snubbed

Kevin Pietersen, former England player, has revealed his choice for the Indian playing XI for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. India will play all of its CT 2025 matches in Dubai and will open their tournament against Bangladesh on February 20.

Varun Chakravarthy was added to the mega event roster in a last-minute alteration, replacing Yashasvi Jaiswal. The top spinner has been in excellent form in T20Is, thus many expected him to be included in the tournament's playing XI. However, Kevin Pietersen has not nominated him to his ideal Indian playing XI for the competition.

Pietersen picks India's trump spinner

In an interview with Star Sports, Kevin Pietersen stated that while Varun Chakravarthy has been good, Kuldeep Yadav has generated far better stats in ODIs in recent times. He also chose Arshdeep Singh over Harshit Rana due to the variety he provides with his left-arm pace.

“Chakravarthy's been very good, but I think Kuldeep has been very good in terms of what he's produced and the numbers that he's produced. I like the left-arm seamer, so that's why Arshdeep starts for me. You've got your three seamers there. Shami, Arshdeep and Hardik. Then you've got Jadeja, who's always my first pick. So Jadeja and the rest, Kuldeep, Axar,” Pietersen said.

India also has Pakistan and New Zealand in their Group A of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. They will face Pakistan on Feb 23 and New Zealand on March 2, also in Dubai.

KL Rahul is the perfect no.5 for India: Kevin Pietersen

India's first-choice wicketkeeper for the ODI series against England is KL Rahul, not Rishabh Pant. However, his batting position has been inconsistent. In the first two ODIs, he was ranked sixth, behind Axar Patel, and fifth in the final match.

Kevin Pietersen believes Rahul should be batting at the fifth spot because he needs to face as many balls as possible.

“One thing they'll be happy about is that Virat Kohli got runs today. So Rohit's got runs. Gill, Shreyas...it's a pretty formidable start, I tell you that. I want KL Rahul at 5 because I want him to face many balls he got. He came in today with 17 overs to go. And when you come in with more time, you can build it."

"I don't think KL Rahul is the guy that comes in with three overs to go and hits you 30 or 12 balls. Rahul is the kind of guy that needs to get himself in one-day cricket. The best chance to give him that time is to bat him at 5,” the former England captain added.

Kevin Pietersen's India Playing XI For Champions Trophy 2025:

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

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