Even after winning the first Twenty20 International against England, India spinner Varun Chakravarthy was motivated to improve.
After being dropped out of India's Champions Trophy squad, Chakravarthy, a local hero in Kolkata, returned to Eden Gardens to disclose his mysterious variants against England.
Arshdeep Singh provided an excellent setting for Chakravarthy to express himself by cheaply removing the opening pair of Ben Duckett and Phil Salt in the powerplay overs.
He had plenty of time to deceive the hard-hitting English middle-order with tricks from his mystery box. Chakravarthy immediately learned that bounce, not turn, was the key to success on a surface where he had bowled previously.
"I am used to seeing such pitches in the IPL. I know that it is for the seamers, but I know there are certain lengths that are helpful for me. What I realized was I can't beat batsmen with a side-spin. The only way I can beat the batsmen is through bounce," Chakravarthy said after winning the Player of the Match award.
His efficiency was partly due to keeping the ball away from the hitting arc and eliminating bounce from the surface. Chakravarthy, along with Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, hooked the main fish of his successful outing: England captain Jos Buttler.
Chakravarthy delivered a brilliant counterpunch as England threatened with Buttler and Brook's good partnership. Livingstone followed young sensation Brook into the dressing room with a two-ball duck in the same over after Brook was removed for 17.
He then ended Jos Buttler’s lone warrior knock of 68 runs, as he had the England captain caught in the deep by Nitish Reddy to end England’s hopes. Chakravarthy returned with astounding figures of 3/23 from his four-over spell.
"I am trying to keep it away from their arc, it was holding a bit. Every over, bowling in Eden is challenging. To bowl to batsmen like Jos and other guys is challenging. The last over was very tricky and challenging, but by God's grace, I was successful. I'm still 7 on 10, still more work to do," he added.
The second T20I will be played in Chennai on Saturday, January 25.
(ANI inputs)
