Dubai [UAE], February 19 (ANI): On the eve of India’s Champions Trophy opening clash against Bangladesh, captain Rohit Sharma revealed mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy bowls only one variety to batters during the training session and keeps his weapons to himself.
Chakarvarthy was a late admission in India’s 15-player squad for the marquee event. The mystery spinner made his way into the team in place of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. With Chakravarthy’s inclusion, India now boasts five spin bowling options in its star-studded squad.
Before India’s clash against Bangladesh, Chakarvarthy participated in the training session and continued to fine-tune his craft and mastery of spin. Rohit opened up about facing the in-form ball tweaker in the nets and revealed that Chakarvarthy resorts to bowling just one kind of variety to the Indian batters.
“Varun Chakarvarthy doesn’t bowl a lot of variations to us. He bowls only one kind of variety to us, so maybe he keeps it for the match, which is good for us. What weapons he has only he knows,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference before the clash against Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai.
After enjoying a fruitful run in the T20Is, Chakravarthy earned his maiden ODI cap for India against England in Cuttack. He kept a lid on England’s scoring rate in the middle overs and returned with figures of 1/54 in his 10-over spell.
In the five home T20Is against England, Chakravarthy truly left everyone mesmerised. He finished the five T20Is as the leading wicket-taker across both teams, scything 14 scalps at a staggering average of 9.86, including a five-wicket haul.
After the conclusion of the ODI series against England in Ahmedabad, head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed the reason behind Chakravarthy’s inclusion.
“Look, the only reason was because we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle. We know what Varun brings to the table and know that Varun can be a massive threat to a lot of teams who haven’t played him. He could be an X-factor as well,” Gambhir had said in the post-match press conference.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Bangladesh: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, MD Mahmud Ullah, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nasum Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Nahid Rana. (ANI)
