Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel believes Varun Chakravarthy has been rewarded for his hard work of bowling on tough pitches in the Indian Premier League. Chakravarthy was able to get back into the Indian team after an impressive show in IPL 2024.
The mystery spinner scalped 21 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 19.14 and an economy rate of 8.04 and ended as the second-highest wicket-taker of the season. Ergo, he played an instrumental role in taking Kolkata Knight Riders to glory in the previous edition.
“That selection was also surprising because they went in after looking how he did, mostly in Sharjah, a wicket that was turning square. But, all the matches that India played in that World Cup were in Dubai. So, that was the reason why he was picked,” Parthiv told the broadcasters, JioCinema.
“Here, I think he has been rewarded for what he has done in the last couple of years on a difficult Kolkata wicket. It’s not been as spin-friendly or as dusty as it has been in the past. But, yeah, good to see guys who are performing well are getting rewarded,” Parthiv said.
Patel reckons the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel is not looking at the age of the players while picking a team for T20Is.
“The other thing is, Indian selectors are looking at only skill-set and performance. They are not looking at age for this format. Sometimes, in the T20 format, you might need young players, but Varun has been around for a while and making a comeback is not easy. You have to consistently perform well. That’s why Varun Chakravarthy has been picked again,” Parthiv added.
The three-match series kicks off on October 6 in Gwalior. The next two games will be held in New Delhi and Hyderabad.
Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, JItesh Sharma (WK), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav
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