Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik has questioned the inclusion of five spinners in India’s Champions Trophy squad. In the provisional squad, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection had picked four spinners. However, they added Varun Chakravarthy in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal to the final squad after the mystery spinner bagged 14 wickets in five T20Is against England.

Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar are part of the squad whereas Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Mohammed Shami constitute the pace battery. 

India will play all of their matches in Dubai and the conditions may not necessarily favor the spinners.

“Five spinners, I personally feel, is a bit too much. They could have done with 4, I felt. And that’s where I do think it shows a little bit of, not confusion, which is probably a strong word, but not being very sure of what exactly to do because they announced a squad and then they added another spinner for an opener,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, Harshit Rana was added to the Indian squad after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out with a back injury, which he suffered in Australia. Karthik noted that the current team management is showing more trust in Rana than experienced seamer Mohammed Siraj. Rana scalped six wickets in three ODIs against England after making his debut at Nagpur.

“Look, if you had to go with experience, then yes, Siraj could have been the ideal choice, but I thought Harshit bowled very well against England. What I feel is the Indian camp is very impressed with Harshit Rana. I think Harshit Rana was the debate, but I feel Team India backs him right now more than Siraj,” Karthik said.

India will begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on February 20.