Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel has lavished praise on Varun Chakravarthy for his impressive spell in the second T20I against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, on Friday. India suffered a four-wicket loss against the hosts, but Chakravarthy was the pick of the Indian bowlers.
The mystery spinner returned with figures of 2-23 in his quota of four overs. Chakravarthy accounted for Australian opener Travis Head and hard-hitter Tim David.
Meanwhile, Head was caught at long-off by Tilak Varma and Patel recalled that Chakravarthy dismissed the left-hander in a similar fashion in the Champions Trophy.
“He got Travis Head out at long-off only in the Champions Trophy, but here the ball went a little far. However, the way he is bowling, he bowls stump to stump, and that’s his strength because if you mistime it, he would get a wicket,” Parthiv Patel said on Star Sports.
Decoding Tim David’s dismissal, Patel reckons Chakravarthy was able to build pressure on the batter by having Tilak Varma at short-leg. David played with hard hands and gave a simple return catch to the spinner.
“I feel he dismissed Tim David brilliantly. A short-leg fielder was placed. So he tried to defend with a straight bat. After that, Jasprit Bumrah bowled an incredible yorker. We haven’t seen that for the first time. However, overall, the runs were very less, and when runs are less, you try too hard, and because of that, the pressure wasn’t created at the start,” Parthiv noted.
On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Varun Aaron praised Chakravarthy for bowling with the right pace and length to deliver the goods.
“His pace was on point. He didn’t give too much to the batsmen. He was way back of length. That’s where you want to be on these big square boundaries, and he wanted to be fast. He bowled one ball at 119 kph. That’s fast even for a slow fast bowler,” he said.
The former RCB bowler said the 34-year-old is a complete spinner as he has all the variations in his arsenal.
“So when you have that range, where you can go from about 85 kph to 111-119 kph, it’s very difficult for a batsman to line you up. And then again, he bowls a really good slower googly, lures the batsman in. Just a complete T20 spinner,” Aaron observed.
The third T20I between India and Australia will be played at Hobart on Sunday.
