Kamal Ghorui
KOLKATA: The one thing that strikes you about Varun Chakravarthy is his complete lack of facial expressions. Just by looking at him, you wouldn’t know if he has taken a wicket or gone for a six. Rather, his teammates seem to be more excited about his achievements than him. But that takes nothing away from him being an integral part of India’s T20 squad.Varun is now back at the venue where he has thrived in the past. The 34-yearold leg-break googly bowler, an important part of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the IPL, will consider Eden Gardens his home. Of his 100 IPL wickets, 99 are for KKR, with this iconic venue contributing quite a few of those. This is not lost on the Indian team management and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate agrees Varun could be one of their potent weapons here.
“Varun obviously had a lot of success here,” ten Doeschate said on Saturday. “I think it’s pretty standard how we’ve utilized Varun so far. He bowls one over in the powerplay. He’s our attacking option as well.”However, is Varun still as effective as he was in his early days? In the last two games against South Africa and Zimbabwe, he conceded 82 runs for his two wickets. Are the batters approaching him in a different way? Ten Doeschate is inclined to agree.
“We’re also aware that teams are now starting to play him a little bit differently. So we have some other strategies to deploy him in different facets of the game. But generally speaking he’s someone we turn to for wickets and he’s been really good at that and expect more of the same on Sunday.”The West Indies won’t take Varun lightly despite his relatively indifferent form. “Last time I checked I think he was the No. 1 bowler in T20 cricket,” West Indies coach Darren Sammy said. “We respect every opposition. We have our plans against each bowlers and vice versa, our bowlers versus their batsman. We got to play a complete game.”
Back in the familiar surroundings of the Eden Gardens, the occasion could just be the perfect setting for Varun to silence doubters. And an early wicket in his powerplay over could well give India the edge.Team firmly behind RinkuTen Doeschate said that the team is standing firmly with batter Rinku Singh, who lost his father to cancer on Friday. “It’s obviously a very sad time and he’ll continue to get the love and support from everyone,” he said.
