NEW DELHI: India spinner Varun Chakravarthy was still eager to get better even after he played a game-winning effort against England in the first Twenty20 International.
After being left out of India’s Champions Trophy squad, Chakravarthy, the local hero of Kolkata, came back to Eden Gardens to reveal his enigmatic variants against England.
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By cheaply dismissing the opening combination of Ben Duckett and Phil Salt in the first innings, Arshdeep Singh created the ideal environment for Chakravarthy to express himself.
He had plenty of time to con the hard-hitting English middle-order by using techniques from his mystery box. Chakravarthy quickly realized that bounce, not turn, was the key to success on a surface where he has bowled numerous times.
“I am used to seeing such pitches in the IPL. I know that it is for the seamers, but I know there are certain lengths which are helpful for me. What I realised was I can’t beat batsmen with a side-spin. The only way I can beat the batsmen is through bounce,” Chakravarthy said after winning the Player of the Match award.
His effectiveness was also attributed to keeping the ball away from the hitting arc in addition to removing bounce from the surface. Along with Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, Chakravarthy caught the big fish during his successful outing: England captain Jos Buttler.
Chakravarthy performed a counterpunch flawlessly when England threatened with a partnership between Buttler and Brook that looked promising.
Livingstone followed young sensation Brook in the dressing room with a two-ball duck in the same over after Brook was initially dismissed for 17.
Only how long Buttler could stay on the crease would determine England’s chances of reaching the 150-run milestone. Buttler knew he had to monitor the boundary rope as the first innings came to a head.
Buttler’s innings ended on 68(44) after Nitish Reddy charged in to make a wonderful catch when he attempted to draw the ball away towards deep square leg. Following the captain’s dismissal, India easily overtook England, who had crawled up to 132.
Chakravarthy returned with astounding figures of 3/23 from his four-over performance, with Buttler’s wicket being his last wicket of the game. Despite his game-changing performance that helped India win by seven wickets, he believes more work needs to be done.
“I am trying to keep it away from their arc, it was holding a bit. Every over, bowling in Eden is challenging. To bowl to batsmen like Jos and other guys is definitely challenging. The last over was very tricky and challenging, but by God’s grace, I was successful. I’m still 7 on 10, still more work to do,” he added.
