Varun Chakravarthy made a triumphant return to the Indian cricket team during the first T20I against Bangladesh in Gwalior on October 6. The Tamil Nadu spinner had been out of the national squad since November 2021, a gap of almost three years, before earning a recall for this series.
His comeback was highly anticipated, especially after his stellar performance in IPL 2024 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he finished as the second-highest wicket-taker with 21 wickets, helping KKR claim their first IPL title in a decade.
Despite his IPL heroics, Varun Chakravarthy had been overlooked for the T20 World Cup and bilateral series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka earlier this year. However, his persistence paid off as he made his return to international cricket against Bangladesh.
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Varun Chakravarthy’s comeback, however, got off to a shaky start. In his first over, he conceded two boundaries and a six, raising concerns about his rhythm. But the spinner quickly turned things around in his second over, dismissing the dangerous Towhid Hridoy for 12 runs. His control and variations came to the fore as he continued to challenge the Bangladeshi batters.
In his third over, Varun Chakravarthy bowled a perfect googly to dismiss Jaker Ali, who was left clueless by the delivery. The ball spun sharply into the gap between bat and pad, crashing into the stumps as Jaker departed for 8. Varun Chakravarthy wasn’t done yet, as he later dismissed Rishad Hossain to finish with impressive figures of 3 wickets for 31 runs in his four-over spell.
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At the end of 16 overs, Bangladesh was struggling at 111/7, with Mehidy Hasan Miraz (27) and Taskin Ahmed (9) at the crease. With Mehidy looking settled, the visitors would be hoping to reach a competitive total close to 150 runs.
