Back in Team India's T20I scheme and ruling the roost, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy bamboozled the South African batters which his bowling in the second T20I on Sunday. Though the match ended in a losing cause for the tourists, Chakravarthy's 5-for in the match impressed everyone. The spinner, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, claimed 5 of the 7 Proteas wickets that fell in the match, producing a magical spell. Seeing Chakravarthy's incredible performance, his former KKR teammate Dinesh Karthik took to social media and sent a loud message to the BCCI selection committee, ODI captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir.
Karthik feels India shouldn't miss out on the opportunity of taking Varun Chakravarthy to next year's ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan.
"If India don't pick VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY for the Champions Trophy , then they are making a grave error. Outstanding Bowler he is turning out to be," Dinesh Karthik wrote, advocating for the mystery spinner, on X (formerly Twitter).
India captain Suryakumar Yadav had nothing but top praise for Chakravarthy after the conclusion of the match. It was the spinner's solo show that kept India in the hunt for a win despite defending a paltry score of 124.
"In a T20 game someone getting a 5-fer defending 125 and in this situation, it's incredible. He worked really hard on his game and he has been waiting for this stage, and everyone enjoyed it. Brilliant performance from him. Two games to go, a lot of entertainment left and it will be fun at Johannesburg," Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Chakravarthy has shown his class in the shortest format but he hasn't yet made his ODI debut. Hence, throwing an uncapped bowler into a tournament as big as the Champions Trophy, might not be the most plausible option for the selection committee and the team management.