Mumbai: Nets practice on Wednesday is optional but Varun Chakravarthy is in attendance along with bowling coach Morne Morkelslogging through it in scorching heat.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!The focus throughout the training ground and during India’s match on Tuesday night was the distance he needs to hit the ball in Thursday’s semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium.
Varun performed well during the T20 World Cup campaign, finishing the four group matches with 9 wickets and a strike rate of 8. But in the Super Eights, when he faced stronger opponents, he found something lacking. In these three games, he took just two wickets at a strike rate of 24 and conceded 10.16 runs per over, much higher than his career average of 7.23. He scored 1/47 against South Africa, 1/35 against Zimbabwe and 1/40 against West Indies.Against South Africa, David Miller, Dewald Brewis and Tristan Stubbs showed their mettle to challenge the mysterious spinner. As a result, he made mistakes with his line and length – bowling a little short or full under pressure – which put him into the batsman’s arc, knocking him down either side of the ground or the wicket. In the final match against West Indies at the Eden Gardens, the same story repeated itself as Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder chased the Kolkata Knight Riders spinners. When batsmen struggled with him, they diminished his ability to squeeze in the middle and exploit wickets to keep opponents on the mat.
Varun remains one of the top five wicket-takers in this edition with 12 scalps, but the team seems to have dissected his changes, especially Gugli, his first-choice delivery to take wickets. Almost 75% of his wickets in T20Is have come from googles. When he bowls fast, opposing batsmen will treat him as an incoming bowler and try to hit him straighter. When he gets the ball out of the way, hitters back themselves up and adjust.With people like Phil Salter, If the housekeeper, Harry BrookeLed by Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks, England will take lessons from Varun’s performances against South Africa and West Indies to exploit shorter boundaries and put the 34-year-old under pressure.During a media interaction, Morkel revealed that discussions with Varun focused on “clearing” his plans a day before the game and “making him feel good about his body when he leaves”.“With Varun’s changes, he has the ability to take wickets on almost every ball. So, the discussion is, if he gets a boundary, the goal is to get to the next boundary and make sure he commits to the next ball. Once you get into the crease, he’s difficult to pick. So, for him, it’s just about getting him confident with the ball, getting his pace, length and control right,” Morkel said.
