Sanjay Manjrekar Advises Varun Chakravarthy To Use T20 Tactics In ODIs
The mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy made his ODI debut in the three-match series against England in the second match on January 9, Sunday, at the Barabati Stadium. He received his debut cap from the star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The 33-year-old took a single wicket in his debut match, giving away 54 runs in Cuttack.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar stated that Varun should stick to his natural game the way he did in the shortest formats. He made his place in the squad, replacing Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI, and got successful in dismissing Phil Salt (26) in his debut match. He bowled a total of 10 overs, finishing the spell with figures of 1-54 in 10 overs. Chakravarthy was not able to pressurize the batters with his spells as he did in the T20I series against England.
Manjrekar stated that
"Clearly, he was bowling a bit slower. I was very interested to see how he thinks in the 50-over format. This is like a new challenge for him; he is more used to batters going after him, and that is where he thrives. There was one ball that I have never seen him bowl, maybe he has in the IPL, and that was a proper leg-spinner, the kind Anil Kumble would bowl."
Further, he stated that Varun should stick to the strategy he followed in T20 cricket. He explained by giving the example of star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja by letting batters do whatever they want to do and see how it goes.
"He bowled it outside the off-stump slow in the air and all that, and that is Varun Chakravarthy trying to be a 50-overs bowler, trying to deceive batters. I would like to see him stick to what he does in T20 cricket. Just like Jadeja, let the batters do what they want to do and see how it goes. But I think it is a good addition to have Varun Chakravarthy in the scheme of things in 50 overs cricket."
The final match of the series will be played on February 12, Wednesday, at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Now it will be interesting to see if Varun will be making his place in the last match of the ODI series against England.