Spinner Varun Chakravarthy was at his best on Sunday as he took his first 5-wicket haul in ODI cricket and essentially dismantled the Kiwi batting line-up. Notably, Chakravarthy is already a mainstay of the Indian T20 side, but the bowler didn’t feature in the first two matches of the Champions Trophy and was selected in place of pacer Harshit Rana in India’s final league match.
Chakravarthy came to the crease in the first powerplay and didn’t get off to the best of starts as Kane Williamson hit him for a boundary off the first ball he faced. From then on, Chakravarthy bowled beautifully in tandem with Axar Patel as the two spinners stifled the flow of runs and took wickets at regular intervals.
After the match, Chakravarthy received massive praise from former India cricketer Sreesanth who said the spinner is ‘meant for greatness’.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Sreesanth said, “The way Varun bowled, he proved that he is not just a T20 bowler, but he is meant for greatness. It is such an inspirational story and really nice to see that.”
Not just Sreesanth, former New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson was also impressed by the selection of Chakravarthy in the playing XI, stating that it is even more difficult to play the bowler under lights if you haven’t faced him before.
In a post on X Hesson wrote, “Chakravarthy was a smart selection tonight by @BCCI in the conditions and one that I feared from a @BLACKCAPS point of view in the days leading up. Playing him under lights is even harder if you haven’t faced him much before. Well bowled Varun,”
India clinch the match by 44 runs:
Winning the toss, New Zealand elected to bowl first and restricted India to a total of 249 runs. As for the Kiwis, Hardik Pandya gave the Black Caps the first jolt when he dismissed Rachin Ravindra for 6. Later, after Chakravarthy came into the attack, wickets fell at regular intervals with Kane Williamson (81) acting as an anchor at one end.
After Williamson was dismissed by Axar Patel in the 41st over of the match, things quickly fell apart for New Zealand as they were bowled out for 205, losing the match by 44 runs.
