The much-awaited T20 World Cup is all set to begin on October 17 in Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE). Keeping in mind the slow wickets of the Gulf nations, most of the teams have gone with spin dominating bowling department.
Team India has also picked as many as five spinners in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy for the multi-team tournament. It is quite certain that Jadeja will most of the games since his all-round abilities overpower the rest of the bowlers.
But considering the fact that Jaddu is not a specialist tweaker, the Indian management will have to find someone for this spot among the other four spinners. Now the biggest question that arises here is who will be the frontrunner when it comes to choosing between Ashwin, Patel, Chahar and Chakravarthy.
Well, former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta has the perfect answer. While speaking at the T20 Time Out show on ESPNcricinfo, the cricketer-turned-commentator reckoned his number one spinner at this time would be Chakravarthy.
Notably, the mysterious spinner has impressed one and all in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. In 13 matches, Chakravarthy has bowled as many as 52 overs and has taken 15 wickets – second best amongst spinners and seventh overall.
“I think if you’re picking one spinner apart from Jadeja (Ravindra Jadeja) – who will play as an all-rounder – my number one spinner at this point of time is Varun Chakravarthy,” said Dasgupta.
However, Dasgupta asserted that Chakravarthy’s fitness would be the biggest concern for Team India as the right-armer has struggled to remain fit in the recent past.
“My only concern is his fitness because obviously, he has struggled in the last 6-8 months with his fitness, knee, shoulder. I just hope he is fit enough and raring to go but he definitely at this point in time is the first spinner to go on that list,” he added.
