VHT round-up: How Varun Chakaravarthy traded mystery spin for side spin to bolster his India hopes | Cricket News
It was a performance that took Varun Chakaravarthy closer to a spot in the Champions Trophy squad and one that should have put Tamil Nadu in the quarterfinals. Instead, a mediocre effort from the batsmen in their chase of 268 against Rajasthan, meant Varun’s second five-wicket haul in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy went in vain as Tamil Nadu’s underwhelming show in the white-ball tournaments ended on Thursday.With Kuldeep Yadav uncertain for the Champions Trophy, Varun, who made a comeback to India’s T20 squad during the Bangladesh series, has interested the selectors. Over the past year, he has transformed from being mystery spinner to a more orthodox type. His stock delivery carrom-ball has vanished. Instead, he relies on side-spin to generate as much help from flat decks as possible. On Thursday, at the Kotambi stadium in Vadodara, reinforced his scale of evolution.
Asked to bat first, Rajasthan lost debutant Sachin Yadav early, but Abhijeet Tomar and Mahipal Lomror made TN regret their decision. The right-left duo scored freely, helped no less TN’s lacklustre fielding. With seamers Sandeep Warrier, Vijay Shankar and Trilok Nag failing to make further inroads with the new ball, a lot depended on TN’s spinners led captain R Sai Kishore, Varun, Mohamed Ali and Sanjay Yadav. But not even the experienced duo of Sai Kishore and Varun could do much as Tomar and Lomoror batted briskly, finding boundaries and sixes with ease. Going at nearly 6 runs an over, Rajasthan were jogging towards a total of 340-plus, with Varun, going for 38 off his first four overs.
Spinning a web 🕸️
Varun Chakaravarthy led Tamil Nadu’s bowling charge with a fantastic 5⃣-wicket haul against Rajasthan 🔥
Watch 📽️ all his wickets 🔽#VijayHazareTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/pSVoNE63b2 pic.twitter.com/Lw3Jgrw0ar
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 9, 2025
Second coming
But Varun’s second spell brought TN back into the game. First, he removed Lomror with a delivery that didn’t turn much, but still took the off-stump. More than the turn, the trajectory deceived him. New batsman Deepak Hoooda went for an expansive drive, only for the ball to come back in sharply and hit the woodwork. Another classic Varun dismissal. Next was Tomar, whose dismissal summarised why Varun resorts to side-spin these days.
With his height, Varun has realised that side-spin is more effective. Even if batsmen go for big hits down the ground, there is a strong chance of him hitting the top half of the bat. Batsmen might get elevation but not the dance. Tomar’s intent to put the pressure back on Varun was calculative, but he could not even reach the fielder at long-on, who ran in to take a simple catch. Three strikes in three overs changed the course as Warrier returned to take care of Kartik Sharma before Varun completed his five-fer. His second spell read 5-0-14-5. From 184/1 in 31.1 overs, Rajasthan stumbled to 267 in 47.3 overs.
Chasing a modest total, TN had the upper hand. N Jagadeesan gave them a quick-fire start – hitting Aman Shekhawat for six consecutive boundaries in the second over – as TN’s 50 came inside six overs. Thereafter, given their batting depth, TN could have overhauled the total without breaking a sweat. Instead—in a strange season for them in the white-ball formats where constant chopping and changing haven’t helped—they dug their own grave. Soon, Khaleel Ahmed removed Tushar Raheja and in the next over Aniket Choudhary trapped Boopathi Kumar in front.
Baba Indrajith was dropped early and he stitched a 46-run stand with Jagadeesan, before TN let Rajasthan back into the game. Having made 65 runs in the most dominant manner, the occasion demanded Jagadeesan to bat the dance. Instead, he stepped out to hit Ajay Singh but only skied it. Six overs later, Indrajith squandered his start. As Shekhawat delivered a short delivery around the fifth-stump channel, Indrajith went for the upper cut, but picked the fielder at third-man. At 134/4, TN still remained in the game and, when Vijay Shankar and Ali motored along with a stand of 51, TN seemed on course.
But a mix-up between the two resulted in Ali’s run-out. Two overs later when Sanjay Yadav perished, the onus was on Vijay to take them home with support from the lower-order and tail. For a while he fought the lone battle before Shekhawat cleaned him up with one that kept low, ending TN’s hopes.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 267 in 47.3 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 111, Mahipal Lomror 60; Varun Chakaravarthy 5/52) bt Tamil Nadu 248 in 47.1 overs (N Jagadeesan 65, Vijay Shankar 49; Aman Shekhawat 3/60).
Haryana knock Bengal out
In the other pre-quarterfinal at the Moti Bagh Stadium, all-round effort from youngsters Nishant Sindhu and Parth Vats helped Haryana overcome Bengal with ease. Made to bat first, Sindhu and Vats first rescued Haryana with an 84-run stand for the fourth wicket, scoring 64 and 62 respectively, before a collective effort from their lower-order took them to 298/9. Mohammed Shami picked up three wickets. Chasing a massive total, Abhishek Porel and Sudip Kumar Gharami put 70 runs for the first wicket, before they lost their way in the middle and lost 72 runs. Sindhu picked up two wickets while Vats had three to his name.
Brief scores: Haryana 298/9 in 50 overs (Nishant Sindhu 64, Parth Vats 62, Sumit Kumar 41 n.o; Mohammed Shami 3/61) bt Bengal 226 in 43.1 overs (Abhishek Porel 57; Parth Vats 3/33, Nishant Sindhu 2/36).
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