Much-awaited ODI debut for Varun before CT

JUST as the Indian team got together for a huddle before the toss at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Raghu Raghavendra, the team's throwdown specialist, dropped everything and ran towards them from the other end of the pitch where he was standing.

- GOMESH S

As head coach Gautam Gambhir had started talking, Raghu snuck a cap in from the side to Hardik Pandya who passed it on to Ravindra Jadeja.

Is there a debut... will Varun Chakravarthy finally get a game... questions lingered while Gambhir confirmed the same - in a video that was later shared by the BCCI - asking Jadeja to hand over the cap to Varun. Right from the time of Vijay Hazare knockouts, Varun has been the one name that has constantly come up in discussions. Although he was initially not included in the ODI squad, Varun was later added with the team management wanting to see if he could replicate the T20I performance in the 50-over format. And here he was, at 33 years and 164 days, the second-oldest ODI debut for India after Farokh Engineer (36 years and 138 days). Varun Chakravarthy, ODI cap no. 259.