Varun Chakravarthy has been selected in India's 15-member T20 World Cup squad.
He impressed the Indian selectors with his exploits in IPL 2021, where he was the only bowler with a five-wicket haul. He recently made his India debut against Sri Lanka in T20Is.
The mystery-spinner lived up to the expectations and returned impressive figures of 3/13 in his four overs to restrict a star-studded Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) batting line-up to just 92 runs in their first match of the second-leg of Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
He was also given the Man of the Match award for his performance.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan said that Chakravarthy will be the X-factor for Team India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021.
“He can be a huge X-factor. You have not played him in international cricket, you have definitely played him in the IPL but the dynamics are slightly different in the IPL. When you play him in the World Cup after playing him in the IPL, it will still be different, the World Cup pressure will be different and the mystery will remain,” Pathan said on Star Sports.
He added that Zaheer Khan’s knuckleball was the surprise element in World Cup 2011 and said that a surprise element was needed in World Cups.
“If you remember the 2011 World Cup, Zaheer Khan started using the knuckleball in the World Cup and not before that. That was a surprise delivery. So, the surprise factor is definitely beneficial when you play a new thing or bowler. Something similar can happen for Varun Chakravarthy,” he added.
India will begin their T20 World Cup 2021 on October 24 against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai.