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Varun Chakaravarthy makes a mockery of England in Rajkot, becomes first bowler with huge record in IND vs ENG T20Is
Varun Chakaravarthy picked up 5/24 to restrict England to 171/9 in the third T20I in Rajkot. He became the first bowler with a huge record in IND vs ENG T20Is.
At the moment, England have no answer to Varun Chakaravarthy. The Indian leg spinner continued to run through a clueless England batting line-up. On placid batting conditions in the third T20I at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, Chakaravarthy picked up his second five-wicket haul in this format to put India on course of an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. In the process, Chakaravarthy became the first cricketer to pick 10 wickets or more in a bilateral T20I series between India and England. Chakaravarthy had picked up three and two wickets, respectively, in the first and the second T20I in Kolkata and Chennai.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav threw the ball to Chakaravarthy in the last over of the powerplay when England captain Jos Buttler and opener Ben Duckett had just started to take the attack to the Indian bowlers after losing the early wicket of Phil Salt. Statistically, the batters are most aggressive in the last over of the powerplay. Chakavarthy had a difficult job at hand, but then again, he was at the top of his game.
He gave away only three singles in his first over to apply the brakes on England just before the powerplay then came back from a different end in the 9th over to give England a body blow. Buttler went for the reverse sweep and got a faint tickle to Samson, who not only took a sharp catch but also convinced Suryakumar to take the DRS.
Jamie Smith hit Chakaravarthy for a six in his third over. The spinner's response? Back-to-back wickets. Smith hit it straight to the deep mid-wicket fielder while newman Jamie Overton lost his leg stump, trying to play the paddle sweep. Brydon Carse denied Chakaravarthy a hat-trick with a single to get off the mark but none of the English batters were comfortable facing the leg-spinner.
Further proof of that came in Chakaravaethy's last over when Carse and Jofra Archer were dismissed. Four out of five batters who got out to Chakarvarthy on Tuesday were guilty of playing the sweep shot without reading him from the hand.
"They couldn't pick him, so they decided to sweep him," said former India coach Ravi Shastri on commentary.
Since his comeback to the Indian T20I side 10 months ago, Chakavarthy has taken 27 wickets in just 10 matches.
Chakarvarthy's heroics with the ball stopped England at 171/9. If it wasn't for a breezy half-century by Duckett, it could have been curtains for England.
