Varun Chakravarthy (Getty Images) MUMBAI: Wednesday’s game at the nets was optional but Varun Chakravarthy was there with bowling coach Morne Morkel driving it in the scorching heat.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Throughout training and the mammoth performance India put in on Tuesday night, the emphasis was on the length they need to hit against England in Thursday’s semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium.
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Varun started the T20 World Cup campaign with a bang, finishing the four-match group stage with nine wickets at a strike rate of 8. But in the Super Eights, playing against stronger opponents, he was found somewhat lacking. In three games, he has taken just two wickets at 24 and conceded 10.16 runs per over, far higher than his career economy rate of 7.23. He finished with figures of 1/47 against South Africa, 1/35 against Zimbabwe and 1/40 against the West Indies.Against South Africa, David Miller, Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs showed courage to tackle the mystery round. As a result, he erred in his line and length – when under pressure, he would bowl a little shorter or fuller – which would bring him into the arc of the batsmen and hit him down the ground or either side of the wicket. The story repeated itself against the West Indies in the last match at the Eden Gardens as Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder walked the Kolkata Knight Riders. When the batsmen took him on the fly, they limited his ability to use the squeeze in the middle overs and take wickets to keep the opposition on the mat. Varun is still among the top five wicket-takers in this edition with 12 scalps, but teams seem to have picked apart his variations, especially the googly, which was his wicket-taker. Almost 75% of his wickets in T20Is came with googlies. When he bowled googlies at pace, the opposing batsmen played him as an incoming bowler and tried to hit him straighter. When he has one to turn away, the batsmen back off and adjust.With the likes of Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks in their ranks, England will take a cue from Varun’s campaigns against South Africa and West Indies, use shorter boundaries and put the 34-year-old under pressure.During an interaction with the media, Morkel revealed that the discussions with Varun focused on him getting “clear” on his plans the day before the match and “enabling him to leave feeling good about his body”.“With the variations that Varun has, he has the ability to take the wicket with almost every ball. So the discussion was that if he goes for a boundary, the aim is to move to the next ball and make sure he commits to the next ball. He’s hard to pick once you step into the crease. So for him, it’s just about getting the right pace and length to the ball,” Morkel said.
