Legendary Bowler Harbhajan Singh feels that their spinning bowlers would play a significant part in the ICC World Cup subsequently this year if India wants to make a success at the T20 World Cup. The three major players in India’s T20 WC team are Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Rahul Chahar, but one identity whom Harbhajan matters is that of the mysterious spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
Following his success in the IPL, he received his first India call-up for the T20I series in Australia in October of the last year. Unfortunately, due to an injury, he was unable to make his India debut. Chakravarthy thereafter struggled with fitness and was pulled out of the domestic T20I series against England.
Chakravarthy can take wickets, stop runs, bowl in the Powerplay, and in the death overs too: Harbhajan
After a complete recovery, Chakravarthy received his India debut versus Sri Lanka in the very first T20I, returning with statistics of 1/28 from 4 overs, and Harbhajan believes Chakravarthy can be an excellent option to the Indian side since he checks all the criteria needed to be a reliable spinner.
“I feel that is T20 World Cup material because he has all types of qualities. He can take wickets, stop runs, bowl in the Powerplay, and can even bowl in the death overs. His only shortcoming is that he remains way too nervous. I spent some time with him in KKR. He himself doesn’t know what he is capable of,” Harbhajan told in an Interaction.
Harbhajan’s imagination switched back to a day when Chakravarthy had offended MS Dhoni during a net practice session. Harbhajan recalled that it was at that very time that he realized Chakravarthy would then go on to play for India.
The more Varun plays, the better he is going to get: Harbhajan
Varun Chakravarthy is applauded by teammates after getting the wicket of Sadeera Samarawickrema of Sri Lanka in Colombo during the 2nd Twenty20 cricket matches is seen between two countries.
“The first time I had seen him was during a net session with Chennai Super Kings. MS Dhoni was hitting the rest of the fast bowlers and spinners for sixes but when Chakravarthy was bowling, he had Dhoni in all sorts of trouble and dismissed him several times”.
“And no one was able to hit him in the nets. That’s when I had predicted that this guy is going to play for India. He has a bit of nervous energy but the more he plays, the better he is going to get,” Harbhajan pointed out.
“Give him some time and I still believe that if India has to do well at the T20 World Cup, the spinners have to do well. Varun Chakravarthy should be a must for India. He has everything you need in a spinner. If he needs to bring about an improvement, he should focus more on what he needs to do on the field. With time, he is going to get better and take lots of wickets for India.”
