Follow UsIndian captain Rohit Sharma is tempted to go with Varun Chakaravarthy in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia in Dubai on March 4 (Tuesday) after the mystery spinner dismantled New Zealand at the same venue in the final group game of the tournament. Playing only his second ODI, Chakaravarthy picked up 5/42 as India won the game by 44 runs.
The Men in Blue will now take on Australia, whom they haven’t defeated in an ICC knockout encounter since their win in the 2011 ODI World Cup. Going into the all-important encounter, Rohit and the team management’s biggest headache will be to pick one between Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana. The latter featured in the first two games and took four wickets @ 15.25, but Chakaravarthy has now made a serious case for himself after his outing against New Zealand.
“We really need to think, even if we want to play four spinners, how we can squeeze four spinners. If we don't, then we don't. Whatever works for us in terms of the bowling options, we will try and do that. The reason I say that is because the conditions here are – we are very much aware of the conditions, and we know exactly what works and what doesn't work. So, we'll just give it a day. We'll think about it, what is the right combination to go with. But it is tempting,” said Rohit.
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India could only manage 249/9 against the Black Caps but managed to defend the total, thanks to their four spinners. Chakaravarthy finished with a five-wicket haul, while Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel also picked up four wickets between them. India used only eight overs of fast bowling against New Zealand.
Talking about Chakaravarthy, Rohit said: “He just showed what he's capable of. Now it is up to us to think and see how we can get that combination right. Obviously, look, he got a game. He did everything that was asked for. And I said it at the post-match as well that he's got something different about him. And when he gets it right, he knocks people over and he takes five wickets.
“It is very tempting to think about what to do, which is a good headache to have. We'll just try and assess. We just want to go back and think about what the Australian batting lineup will look like and how we can try and see what kind of bowling options will work against them.
“I think he's become more accurate now from the last time he played for India, which was way back in 2021. And I mean, there was a little bit of inexperience in him as well, because he hadn't played a lot of cricket. But right now, in the last two or three years, he's played a lot of cricket, whether it's domestic cricket, IPL, and now for India in T20s, and now the ODIs as well.
“The pace variation is superb. Watching from behind when I was standing in the slips, the variation of his has become a lot more. And when you have a little bit of mystery, you don't want to be a one-dimensional bowler and bowl with the same speed. You need something different, the pace variation, and the accuracy as well. So, he's worked on both of it. And now you see that he's getting a lot of wickets and getting more often as well, which is a good sign for us as a team.”