India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was delighted after he bowled a match-winning spell against England at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday. Chakravarthy returned with impressive bowling figures of 3-23 in his quota of four overs.
The 33-year-old accounted for Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in the same over and then dismissed England’s captain Jos Buttler, who top-scored with 68 runs for the visitors.
Chakravarthy played an instrumental role in skittling England at 132 and he said he wanted to beat the English batters with bounce. The right-arm leg-break spinner made the most of his experience of playing for Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
He said after he was awarded Player of the Match, “I am used to seeing such pitches in the IPL. I know that it is for the seamers but I know there are certain lengths which is helpful for me. I am trying to keep it away from their arc, it was holding a bit. Every over, bowling in Eden is challenging.”
He added, “To bowl to batsmen like Jos and other guys is definitely challenging. The last over was very tricky and challenging, but by God’s grace I was successful. What I realised was, I can’t beat batsmen with side-spin. the only way I can beat the batsmen is through bounce. I’m still 7 on 10, still more work to do.”
Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel also bagged two wickets apiece.
On the other hand, India was able to chase down the target in 12.5 overs and with 43 balls to spare after Abhishek Sharma smashed a quickfire knock of 79 runs off just 34 balls with the help of five fours and eight sixes.
The second T20I between India and England will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Saturday.
