Suresh Raina believes that Varun Chakravarthy is going to be the “main guy” going forward in India’s T20 side. Raina, who retired from international cricket in 2020, pointed out that Chakravarthy’s mystery element that has made him successful in the IPL will also fox batters in international cricket.
On the back of two brilliant IPL seasons – 35 wickets in the last two IPLs at an economy of less than 7 – for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Varun Chakravarthy made it into India’s squad for the T20 World Cup last year in the UAE.
However, the Tamil Nadu mystery spinner couldn’t find his groove in the mega tournament as he returned wicketless in 3 games and was dropped from India’s side after that. Part of the reason for him going wicketless against Pakistan and New Zealand is the low totals that the batters managed not giving him and other bowlers much to work with.
While Varun Chakravarthy was retained by the KKR for 8 crore, he wasn’t given a call up by the selectors after the T20 World Cup.
Suresh Raina, though, isn’t “concerned by any lack of experience” for Varun Chakravarthy and feels that the spinner, with his skiddy pace, is a difficult spinner to handle on any pitch in the world.
Suresh Raina called Varun Chakravarthy the “main guy” in India’s bowling attack.
“My experience in the IPL was that the wickets in UAE and Oman will be very, very challenging when it comes to the mystery spinners. That makes Varun Chakravarthy the main guy in the India bowling attack. He has showed he can exploit the pace of the pitches,” Suresh Raina had written in his column for ICC.
Varun Chakravarthy, who didn’t play the domestic white-ball matches this season, will next be seen in the IPL 2022 bowling for KKR, the runner-ups of last season.
Suresh Raina also gave his solid backing to his Uttar Pradesh teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar and former CSK teammate all-rounder Shardul Thakur to play key roles in the Indian team.
“There is plenty of experience in this team, particularly in the seam attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar in particular leads the way when it comes to experience and knowledge of how to deal with the big games. The inclusion of Shardul Thakur can also give extra strength,” the former India batter added.
This year’s T20 World Cup is going to be played in Australia for which skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have already charted out plans and executed them during the recent home white-ball matches.
