India vs England: Rahul Chahar added to T20 squad, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Tewatia fail fitness tests

Rahul Chahar made his debut for India in 2019 and played a match against West Indies in the Caribbean. Since then, he has not played a single match. He has been successful for Mumbai Indians in the IPL over the last two seasons.

Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan leg-spinner Rahul Chahar is expected to join the Indian T20I set-up after Rahul Tewatia and Varun Chakravarthy failed their respective fitness tests at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. According to Cricbuzz website, Chahar – who has been in the bubble since the Test series becomes an automatic choice.  The report also indicated that the leg-spinner attended practice with the Indian team on Monday (March 8).  

Other cricketers like KS Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Priyank Panchal – who were part of the reserves – were released for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. Over the last few years, Virat Kohli-led side has laid a lot of emphasis on fitness and believes it is the hard work that is now paying dividends.   

Chahar made his debut for India in 2019 and played a match against West Indies in the Caribbean. Since then, he has not played a single match. He has been successful for Mumbai Indians in the IPL over the last two seasons.  

The hosts have been in top form. The Kohli-led side beat England 3-1 to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final. The hosts came bounced back after losing the first Test in Chennai by 227 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel along with Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar were the architects who helped India win the remaining three Tests. 

The 29-year-old Chakravarthy will be missing out for a second time on an opportunity for a potential India debut, having been initially picked in the T20I squad for the tour of Australia, but ruled out due to a shoulder injury then. Chakravarthy was picked on the back of his IPL 2020 performances, where he emerged as one of the stand-out uncapped Indian players. 

India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.