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Cricket Players'Every kid in Pakistan plays this kind of bowling in street cricket': Ex-Pak captain tears down on IND's Chakaravarthy
India vs Pakistan: Ex-Pakistan captain, while analysing Varun Chakaravarthy's performance in their T20 World Cup opener, explained why he was ineffective.
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, following India's 10-wicket drubbing at the hands of Pakistan in their opening T20 World Cup encounter on Sunday, tore down on India's spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, saying “he may be a mystery bowler but he was no surprise” to the skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Leg-spinner Chakaravarthy holds a reputation of being a “mystery” spinner, primarily owing to his well-disguised variations. After finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the UAE leg of the recently-concluded IPL 2021, skipper Virat Kohli and management decided to play the Tamil Nadu spinner ahead of the senior pro in R Ashwin.
However, Chakaravarthy, like all the Indian bowlers, failed to pick up a single wicket and returned with figures of 0/33 in 4 overs.
Analysing the spinners' performance, Butt remarked why he was ineffective.
“Varun Chakaravarthy may be a mystery bowler but he was no surprise to us. Kids in Pakistan play a lot of tape ball cricket. Every kid in Pakistan plays this kind of bowling in street cricket, where bowlers do the finger tricks with the ball and try different variations," explained Butt.
Elaborating on his point further, Butt likened Chakaravarthy's skill to former Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis, who also burst onto the scene with his “mysterious” variations but didn't play a lot against Pakistan.
“At the start of his career, Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis also troubled a lot of teams with his mystery element. But his record against Pakistan isn’t great. After a while, Sri Lanka stopped playing him against India. We have never found any mystery in mystery bowling because we have grown up playing such kind of bowlers," commented southpaw Butt.
And finally, Butt opined that Chakaravarthy may not play against Pakistan again, considering how easily the two Babar (68*) and Rizwan (79*) read him.
“I don’t think India will play Chakaravarthy against Pakistan again and, if they do, expect the result to be the same. Just by looking at someone like Varun, Pakistan’s batters can figure out whether the ball is going to come in or go out. Whoever, the Indian analyst is, perhaps he wasn’t aware of the fact that the one who introduced mystery spin in world cricket, Mendis, wasn’t successful against Pakistan at all," concluded
