Varun Chakravarthy’s availability for the upcoming 5-match T20I series against England is doubtful. The 29-year-old spinner hasn’t performed well on the new fitness benchmark set for Indian players, which is either completing a 2 km run in 8.5 minutes or scoring 17.1 in the Yo-Yo test.
Varun Chakravarthy Haven’t Been Informed Formally Whether He Would Miss The 5 T20Is Against England
It will be the second time in a space of five months if he misses the England T20Is that Varun Chakravarthy will miss out on a potential India debut.
Last November, he was picked for the T20I series against Australia on the back of impressive performances for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but instead had to be checked into the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. Varun Chakravarthy said that he is still awaiting formal communication from the board.
“I have not been informed of anything as yet,” he told Cricbuzz.
The 29-year-old spinner is currently training with the Kolkata Knight Riders team in Mumbai after almost three months at the NCA, where he had to work on his inability to throw which was a problem that kept him out of the limited-overs tour of Australia in November. The rehabilitation program went well and there is a marked improvement in his strength and conditioning but running has apparently become a problem.
Varun Chakravarthy picked 17 scalps in 13 games in IPL 2020 averaging only 20.94. He was picked up by Kings XI Punjab for an astonishing INR 8.4 crore at the auctions prior to IPL 2019, making him the costliest KXIP player then. He had a rather forgettable debut IPL season where he played just one game for KXIP and did not feature in the rest of the tournament.
Varun Chakravarthy Wasn’t Considered For Vijay Hazare Trophy
Varun Chakravarthy, who has played one first-class and nine List-A games for Tamil Nadu, has not been considered for the ongoing 50 overs tournament Vijay Hazare Trophy by his state selectors.
“He was never in contention for a one-day team berth because we consider him as a T20 specialist. It will be difficult to expect more than four-five overs from him because of the effort he puts on his fingers,” said Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary S Ramasamy.
Interestingly enough, he was not picked for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament either. The five T20Is against England are from March 12 to 20, all in Ahmedabad.