Varun Chakravarthy, who took 5 for 17 in the second T20I against South Africa on Sunday, said playing domestic cricket and clarity on his role from head coach Gautam Gambhir helped him make a successful comeback to international cricket after 3 years.
Varun Chakravarthy Mystery Spinner
Spinner Varun Chakraborty took 5 wickets for 17 runs in the second T20 International match against South Africa on Sunday, which is the best performance of his career. While Team India lost this match by 3 wickets Varun Chakraborty achieved a special milestone in this match by taking his first T20 International five-wicket haul. He became the third Indian bowler to take five wickets against South Africa and before this Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 5 wickets for 24 runs in Johannesburg in 2018, while Kuldeep Yadav had a record performance by taking 5 wickets for 17 runs in 2.5 overs in Johannesburg in December 2023. Varun Chakraborty has now registered his name in this list along with Kuldeep and Bhuvneshwar. Varun Chakraborty’s figures of 5 (17) are recorded as the second best T20 performance by an Indian spinner. The first place in this list is Yuzvendra Chahal who recorded brilliant figures of 6 (25) against England in 2017
Varun Chakravarthy returns to play after 86 matches
Varun came to play after a long gap. Varun Chakraborty played his last match for India in 2021. After Khalil Ahmed, he has become the second Indian player to play a T20 match after the longest period. Varun Chakraborty has returned to the Indian team after 86 T20 matches, while Khalil Ahmed is at the first position in this case, who represented the Indian team in the shorter format of the game last in 2019 before playing a T20 match for India this year. Khalil had returned to the team after 104 matches.Khaleel Ahmed and Varun Chakravarthy and Sanju Samson and Shivam Dubey have also played T20 matches for India after a long gap. Sanju Samson returned to the Indian team in 2020 after 73 matches, and Shivam Dubey got a chance to play after 70 matches in 2023. Varun has been given a chance in place of Ravi Bishnoi, who was not included in the playing-11 for this match. Varun would do well to capitalize on this opportunity.
India gave initial setbacks to Bangladesh
After winning the toss and bowling first, the Indian team gave early setbacks to Bangladesh. Fast bowler Arshdeep Singh soon gave India two successes. Arshdeep Singh gave India an early breakthrough by dismissing Liton Das in the very first over. After this, in the very next over, Arshdeep dismissed Parvez Hussain Emon.
Varun Chakravarthy Career
South Africa defeated the Indian team by 3 wickets in the second T20. Batting first, India scored only 124 runs. After that, with the help of Tristan Stubbs in the 19th over, South Africa chased this score and also got a 1-1 lead in the series. Even though Team India lost this match, Varun Chakraborty managed to win everyone’s heart with his performance. He tried his best to bring Team India back, but he did not get support from other bowlers and in the end Team India had to face defeat.
Surya Kumar Yadav also praised
Even after the defeat against South Africa, captain Suryakumar Yadav has praised Varun Chakraborty. He said that taking 5 wickets in a T20 match is a big thing and in such circumstances, Varun has improved his game a lot on the basis of his hard work, the result of which we are all seeing now.
