Varun Chakravarthy had another superb outing in the third T20I against England in Rajkot on January 28 (Tuesday), but it was still not enough to give his team a win. Chakravarthy (5/24) scalped his second five-wicket haul and helped India restrict England to 171/9. However, the Men in Blue failed to hunt down the target and could only manage 145/9 in reply.
Adil Rashid (1/15) gave nothing away in the middle overs, while the likes of Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton claimed seven wickets between them to derail India’s run chase. Chakravarthy felt that the Rajkot surface slowed down in the second innings and also heaped heavy praise on Rashid for using the conditions to his advantage.
“What I observed was the pitch definitely got slower in the second innings. We thought that there might be dew which might set in, but the dew didn’t set in. So that definitely played in their favour and obviously Adil Rashid is a legend, and he knows how to bowl. He has that control over his speed,” said the spinner after India’s 26-run defeat.
India once again won the toss and decided to bowl first. But was it the right call? “Don’t think the toss went against us because that’s what we have done the last two matches, and we won and that’s the nature of the game," Chakaravarthy said.
“Last match also went close. We could have ended up losing and this match we could have ended up winning. So that’s the nature of the game. And T20 is supposed to be aggressive. You can’t complain much, and it is a very result-oriented game. So, I can get what you’re trying to say. But this is how they have decided to play, and this is the brand of cricket what Indian team wants to play and they’re doing it well."
Chakravarthy became only the third Indian bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav to take two five-fers in the 20-over format. The Tamil Nadu bowler is now also the only player in history to have picked 10 or more wickets in two bilateral T20I series.
Talking about his bowling, the spinner said: “Nothing new (he has done with his training), but the work doesn’t stop because consistency is a constant work, as in even if I can bowl a stock ball, I need to keep working on it, keep pushing it. I need to get 9/10 consistency. That work is always there. So right now, my focus is on consistency and line and length.”
India are still leading 2-1 in the five-match series. The fourth T20I will be played in Pune on January 31 (Friday).