It’s a dream comeback. Varun Chakaravarthy had to wait 1066 days to don the Indian jersey once again. Luckily, the wait was worthwhile. In the six matches he played for Team India before, the spinner managed to take just 2 wickets. In contrast, today (India vs Bangladesh 1st T20I), he bagged three wickets.
Varun Chakaravarthy’s T20I stats
| Inns | Wkts | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before IND vs BAN 1st Test | 6 | 2 | 1/18 | 66 | 5.86 | 67.5 |
| Today | 1 | 3 | 3/31 | 10.33 | 7.8 | 8 |
Arshdeep Singh opened the game by spending the openers back, but it was Chakaravarthy who broke Bangladesh’s back. The start wasn’t great for the mystery spinner, as Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto took him for 15 runs in his first over. In the remaining three overs, he claimed 3 wickets while giving away just 16 runs.
Bangladesh clueless against Chakaravarthy
After his wayward first over, he made life hell for Bangladeshi batters. Just one boundary was hit off him in his last 18 balls. The Tigers weren’t picking the mystery spinner who was beating both sides of the edge and was increasing his pace up to 107 clicks from time to time.
The failure to read him was the reason why two of his wickets came off short balls that they skied while going for a maximum over midwicket. However, it was the second scalp that was the best, as Chakaravarthy pegged Jaker Ali’s middle-stump back with a googly.
