Varun Chakaravarthy spun his web against New Zealand and claimed a maiden five-wicket haul to set up the foundation of India’s 44-run win. Varun lived up to the hype and remained a mystery for the Kiwi batters. After proving his mettle in the T20Is, all eyes were on Varun to showcase his mastery in the 50-over format as India made a last-minute change to get him included in the Champions Trophy squad.
Rohit Sharma was asked about Varun's bowling ahead of India's tournament opener versus Bangladesh and the skipper revealed that the KKR spinner doesn't "bowl a lot of variations" in the nets to the Indian batters. The swashbuckling opener said Chakravarthy "bowls only one kind of variety" to them.
However, the Indian spinner explained the reason behind this and talked about the difference between his bowling approach in ODIs and T20Is.
"But in T20, I build my over differently. The way of sequencing different balls is different. And in ODI, it is different. So that's why they don't feel that I don't bowl all the variations, but I do bowl all the variations," Varun said in the press conference.
Varun's spell of 5/42 is the second-best by a bowler on CT debut and the best by an Indian bowler. Australia's Josh Hazlewood has the best CT debut spell, taking 6/52 against NZ in 2017 at Edgbaston. He won the 'Player of the Match' award for his match-winning performance, which ripped through the Kiwis' middle order.
{{/usCountry}}Varun's spell of 5/42 is the second-best by a bowler on CT debut and the best by an Indian bowler. Australia's Josh Hazlewood has the best CT debut spell, taking 6/52 against NZ in 2017 at Edgbaston. He won the 'Player of the Match' award for his match-winning performance, which ripped through the Kiwis' middle order.
{{/usCountry}}It was a perfect redemption arc for Varun on Sunday. He claimed a five-wicket haul at the same venue where he remained wicketless in the 2021 T20 World Cup and ended up losing his spot in the Indian team.
‘I didn’t have a great tournament here’: Varun Chakaravarthy
Meanwhile, Varun admitted that he was nervous ahead of his first spell while talking about how things have changed for him at the same venue since 2021.
"In 2021, I didn’t have a great tournament here. But it looks good right now. I was a little nervous ahead of my first spell (vs NZ). The emotions were playing (in mind) because of whatever happened three years before at this ground," said Chakravarthy in the post-match press conference.