Two days after his lady five-wicket pull in the Indian Premier League(IPL), spinner Varun Chakravarthy procured his lady Team India call-up for the T20 arrangement in Australia in the not so distant future.
Varun recorded figures of 4-0-20-5 and helped his group Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) register a 59-run win against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Abu Dhabi. He was essential for the 16-man crew reported on Monday for the T20 arrangement.
The 28-year-old secret spinner was purchased for an astounding Rs. 8.4 crore by Kings XI Punjab in 2019 and played one IPL game, surrendering 35 runs from 3 overs. He harmed his shoulder and had not figured in serious cricket until the current year's IPL.
In an interview with Sportstar last December, Varun declared his ambitions of pulling on the India jersey. “I want to play for India in the ICC World Twenty20,” he said after he was picked by KKR for Rs. 4 crores.
Having set himself at a base price of Rs 30 lakh, Varun attracted intense bidding between Royal Challengers Bangalore and KKR. Varun earned the highest bid among uncapped Indian players at the IPL 2020 auction.
T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (VC & wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
“It feels surreal,” said the architect-turned-mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy after he got a maiden India call-up for the T20 series in Australia.
The 29-year-old, who only started taking his spin bowling seriously in 2018, said he was not expecting to be picked in the national team.
“After the match got over I got to know [of my selection into the Indian team]. I keep using the same word again and again, it feels surreal,” he told BCCI.TV after the game against Kings XI Punjab on Monday night.
“My basic goal was to play in the team regularly and perform and contribute to their wins. Hopefully I’ll be able to do the same for India. I am not very active on social media and I have to thank the selectors for keeping their faith in me. I don’t really have words.”