Champions Trophy 2025: Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, has won the Champions Trophy title by defeating New Zealand in the final. In the final match, India defeated New Zealand by four wickets on the strength of strong batting by spinners and captain Rohit Sharma.

For India, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy took the wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson to prevent the Kiwi team from scoring big. He has now been praised by former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.

Ashwin believes that mystery spinner Varun was the ‘X-factor’ for the team in the Champions Trophy. He said that his performance helped the Rohit-led team win the title. Despite not playing the entire tournament, Chakravarthy took full advantage of the support he received from captain Rohit and head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Let us tell you that Chakraborty was not a part of India’s initial Champions Trophy team and he was included in the team only after impressing in the white-ball series against England. New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra, the only batsman to score two centuries in the Champions Trophy, was chosen as the ‘Player of the Tournament’. However, according to Ashwin, Chakraborty should have got this award.

According to me, Varun Chakraborty was the Player of the Tournament – Ashwin

Ashwin said on his Hindi YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’, ‘Whatever was said and done, according to me the Player of the Tournament was Varun Chakraborty. He did not even play the entire tournament, but he made a huge difference. If Varun was not there, I think this tournament would have been very different for India. He brought the X-factor and novelty to the team. If I were the judge, I would give Varun the Player of the Tournament award. He made the most difference.’ Ashwin was surprised by Chakraborty’s ball in the final match, on which he dismissed Glenn Phillips.

Varun made a big difference – Ashwin

He said, ‘Look how he dismissed Glenn Phillips. He was not covering the stumps, so Varun came out of the crease and threw a googly. According to me, Varun should have been the Player of the Series. This award should be given to the person who has made the biggest difference. Varun Chakraborty deserves the Player of the Series award.’