Spinner Varun yet to be decoded
Varun Chakravarthy will be India’s Trump Card in the T20 World Cup, which begins immediately after the Indian Premier League ends tomorrow. He has been in terrific form for Kolkata Knight Riders and is still a mystery to most of the batsman who find it difficult to read him.
Varun has so far picked 17 wickets this season at less than 6.50, carrying his good form which he showed in the last IPL also played in the UAE. Last season too he had picked up 17 wickets at an average of just 20. He has seven variations — off-break, leg-break, googly, carom ball, flipper, top-spinner and a slider, which is aimed at the toes of the batsman.
In their first match in the UAE leg, he was instrumental in bowling RCB out for just 90 and picked up three key wickets including that of skipper Virat Kohli, who said he will be the key to India’s chances in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Not everyone knows that Chakravarthy had a horrible start in his IPL debut in 2019 when Sunil Narine had taken him to the cleaners and had hit him for 25 runs in his first over. But he has bounced back spectacularly in 2020 as well as in 2021 and has been instrumental in KKR reaching the final this season.
He once again showed yesterday why he is going to be India’s trump card with another mesmerising spell of 2/26, picking up key wickets of the dangerous Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, which restricted Delhi Capitals to a below par score of 135.
India won the inaugural World Cup in 2007 but after that the Men in Blue have fallen short in the next five tournaments. And this is Kohli’s final chance as he too will be banking heavily on Chakravarthy whom batsman are still trying to decode.