As Varun Chakaravarthy befuddled a slew of English batters in the T20I series, the one question on almost every Indian cricket fan’s lip was whether the spinner would be added to the ODI squad for the England series and the forthcoming Champions Trophy. Two days before the start of the ODI series against England, he was seen training with the rest of the Indian players in Nagpur. And by the looks of it, the selectors might also include him for the ICC event.
If India move ahead with their plans of picking Varun for the Champions Trophy, it brings up another point to ponder upon. Are we mixing up the formats as Varun has made a name for himself primarily in the shortest format of the game? To answer this vexing question, let’s transport ourselves back to the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. He picked up 18 wickets in that tournament. More importantly, Varun showcased the required bowling smarts and gave an exhibition of his different skills.
Let’s delve deeper to look at his noteworthy show versus Rajasthan where he ended up with a five-for. One of his scalps was the left-hand batter Kukna Ajay Singh. And that scalp in itself tells us enough on how Varun has sharpened the rough edges of his bowling. From round the wicket, and with a high arm action, he extracted bounce and it hit more of the sticker of the bat. All that the batter could do was edge it to the slip fielder.
He also seemed to be imparting a bit of side-spin. In fact, both Karthik Sharma and Deepak Hooda were done in by some side-spin. He mixed up his pace quite well too and seemed to be adept at consistently landing deliveries around the good-length area. Early on in the innings, Varun bowled a few of his deliveries at around 110 kph. But the speeds for most of his wickets came in the range of 88 to 93 kph.
Even in the T20Is versus England, the way he flummoxed Harry Brook with subtle tweaks in lines, in the first and second game, substantiates his improved bowling smarts. Certain factors could still go against Varun in the Champions Trophy. At this time of the year, there could be some dew in Dubai. We saw enough of it during the 2021 T20 World Cup, in the UAE. In reality, however, a player can look to only control the controllables.
There is also a school of thought that spinners who bowl slower through the air tend to do well in the UAE. Incidentally, Varun’s speeds are generally above 100 kph. In this case, one has to understand that Varun doesn’t fall into typical classifications for spinners. He is his own version. So, some other variables could play deciding roles in whether Varun would succeed or not in the ICC event.
Eventually, the simple foundation for the argument to include Varun in the ODIs is that he is at the peak of his prowess. If not now, then when is the right time to pick him in the 50-over format? Surely not when he sits on a rocking chair after retiring from the game and ponders about how the selectors ignored him for the 50-over format even when he had touched his peak.
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