Varun Chakaravarthy trains with ODI squad in Nagpur

Even though he has not been picked in the squads for the upcoming three-match ODI series against England or the Champions Trophy, Varun Chakaravarthy has been training with the Indian team in Nagpur.

The 33-year-old spinner has been on a great run over the last year or so that has seen him pick 21 wickets – his personal best in an IPL season – in KKR's title-winning campaign, before nailing his spot in the Indian T20I side in recent times. His dream has now culminated in him winning the Player of the Series award against England in the just-concluded T20I series where he tormented the opposition batters consistently.

There have been calls from the likes of R Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik for the mystery spinner to be included in the Champions Trophy squad, and it is yet to be seen if he will be officially drafted into the squad for the England ODIs. Kuldeep Yadav is India's only frontline spin option in the squad but they also have three spin bowling allrounders in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar.

Sanju Samson has injured his left index finger in the final T20I against England and is set to be ruled out for six weeks. Samson came into the T20I series on the back of scoring three centuries in his last five games. However, he made only 51 runs in the five games against England with the short-ball consistently proving to be his nemesis. Despite the setback, Samson is expected to be fully fit by the time the IPL comes around where he will lead Rajasthan Royals once again.

Mumbai receive double boost

With the BCCI recently coming down heavily on the national players and asking them to be available for domestic cricket, the duo of Shivam Dube and Suryakumar Yadav have made themselves available for Mumbai for the Ranji Trophy knockouts. Both Dube and Suryakumar were a part of the T20I squad but aren't in the ODI mix at the moment. Mumbai's next fixture is their quarterfinal clash against Haryana in Lahli.