He said that Varun Chakravarthy bamboozled high-class batters during India-England T20Is
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower is in awe of Varun Chakravarthy and said that the spinner is a prime example of how T20 cricket has evolved over the years. Varun was impressive in India’s five-match T20I series against England as he picked up 14 wickets, ending as the top wicket-taker in that series. The 33-year-old made his ODI debut in the second ODI against England in Cuttack and finished with figures of 1/54 from 10 overs.
The Tamil Nadu cricketer’s recent exploits with the ball eventually earned him a spot in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad, replacing batter Yashasvi Jaiswal as a last-minute addition.
“We’re seeing some great mystery bowling at the moment. Varun Chakravarthy in the recent T20I matches in India was sensational. He was bamboozling high-class batters. I like the necessity for that evolution to drive those standards and innovation and I think on the fast-bowling front, we will also see that,” Flower told Sportskeeda.
He also termed Lasith Malinga as the “finest yorker bowler” and acknowledged Jasprit Bumrah’s intelligence. “We saw (Lasith) Malinga come and go through his career as probably the finest yorker bowler that we’ve seen and (Jasprit) Bumrah is not far behind with his subtlety and cricket intelligence. So I think those bowling standards will have to improve to get that balance between bat and ball,” added the former Zimbabwe cricketer.
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Varun Chakravarthy made his international debut in a T20I against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2021. He finished with figures of 1/28 in that game. Since then, he has gone onto play 17 more T20Is for India and take 32 more wickets.
Varun made his ODI debut as recently as last week against England and took one wicket, that of opener Phil Salt. The Karnataka-born cricketer plies trade for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL. He has played 71 IPL matches till date and taken 83 wickets.
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