How Varun Chakravarthy 2.0 has fared in T20I cricket?
What's the story
Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy is among the players to watch out for in the upcoming Asia Cup. The tournament will kick off on September 9. India's campaign will begin on September 10 against UAE. Varun, who has been on a roll in T20Is lately, can give a tough time to batters on spin-friendly UAE tracks. Here we decode his golden run in T20Is since his return to Team India last year.
DYK
Return after three years
Varun made a successful comeback to the Indian team after nearly three years. The spinner had debuted at the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. However, he was dropped after managing just two wickets in his first six outings. Last year, Varun returned to the Indian setup after missing 86 T20Is. Pacer Khaleel Ahmed remains the only Indian to have missed more T20Is between two appearances (104).
Stats
An average of 11.25 after return
Having played 12 T20Is since his return, Varun has scalped 31 wickets at an average of 11.25. As per ESPNcricinfo, Rashid Khan (9.58) is the only full-member team bowler to claim 30-plus T20I wickets in this period at a better average. Meanwhile, Varun has taken multiple wickets in 11 of these games as his economy in this period is a brilliant 7.58.
Feats
Two fifers since return
Varun has taken two five-wicket hauls in T20Is after returning to the team - against England and South Africa. The mystery spinner became just the third Indian to record multiple five-wicket hauls in T20I cricket, joining Kuldeep Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Meanwhile, in the five-match T20I series against England, which India won 4-1, Chakaravarthy picked up 14 wickets at an incredible average of 9.86. He now owns the most wickets by an Indian in a bilateral T20I series.
Training strategy
Varun's holistic approach to training
Speaking to Boria Majumdar at Revsportz, Varun revealed his training strategy for the Asia Cup. He said he has had a month-long break after IPL and has been working on his "strength and conditioning, fitness, bowling, batting." He said this time helped him rejuvenate himself holistically. "I got time to rejuvenate my entire self in a holistic way," he added.