Spinner Varun Chakravarthy on Sunday became a “good headache” for India ahead of their Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia after his match-winning five-wicket haul against New Zealand, India captain Rohit Sharma said.
Mystery spinner Chakravarthy returned figures of 5-42 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to help India beat New Zealand in their final group match of the 50-over tournament.
His recent 14 wickets in a 4-1 T20 series win over England at home got Chakravarthy back into the India reckoning in the white-ball formats and he was a last-minute addition to the Champions Trophy squad.
Photo: AP
After being left out for the first two games, Chakravarthy made the team in India’s last group match and was named player of the match in just his second one-day international after his debut against England last month.
India face Australia in the first semi-final in Dubai today.
“Varun has got something different, wanted to try and see what he had to offer,” Rohit said. “We got to think a little about what to do for the next game, good headache.”
Chakravarthy went wicketless in three matches in Dubai during the 2021 T20 World Cup, but put that disappointment behind him in style.
Chakravarthy made his mark in the Indian Premier League for Kolkata Knight Riders, playing a key part in the team’s title win last year.
A wily bowler with lot of variations up his sleeve, Chakravarthy gets the ball to spin both ways.
He also varies his pace to make life difficult for the opposition, a trait with which he bamboozled the New Zealand batsmen, including Will Young, who he bowled for 22.
“It is the patience game,” Chakravarthy said on bowling in one-day internationals. “You just need to wait it out ... on such slow wickets ... the ball doesn’t turn fast, it turns slow. So, you need to wait it out and it just happens, if it’s your day it happens to you.”
A late starter in professional cricket, Chakravarthy harbored other dreams before he took up the sport and made his international debut at nearly 30 years of age.
“After 26 is when I started dreaming about cricket,” Chakravarthy said. “Before that, my dreams were all being an architect and making movies. So I’ve had different career paths.”
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