T20 World Cup 2021: "Varun Chakravarthy the main guy in the India bowling attack" - Suresh Raina

Former Indian middle-order batter Suresh Raina has picked mystery leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy as the X-Factor for Team India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.

Writing in his column for ICC’s website, Raina opined that Chakravarthy has shown that he can exploit the pitches in the UAE to deadly effect. He may not have played enough international cricket, but Raina is not concerned about that. Raina wrote:

‘’My experience in the IPL was that the wickets in UAE and Oman will be very, very challenging when it comes to the mystery spinners. That makes Varun Chakravarthy the main guy in the India bowling attack. He has showed he can exploit the pace of the pitches. Varun has only played three T20Is, but I'm not concerned by his lack of experience."

Chakravarthy has been one of the breakout stars in the past two seasons of the IPL. On the slow and sluggish tracks of the UAE, the Tamil Nadu player has proved to be more than a handful.

He claimed 13 wickets in 17 games at an average of 20.94 and an economy rate of 6.84 in the IPL last year. Chakravarthy then backed that up with 18 wickets in 17 outings at an average of 24.88 and an economy rate of 6.54 in IPL 2021.

"The inclusion of Shardul Thakur can also give extra strength" - Suresh Raina

India have included seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur in their 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup. Thakur was initially picked as one of three reserves. But with Hardik Pandya’s ability to bowl under doubt and Thakur’s brilliant exploits during the IPL 2021 second leg, the selectors included him in the main squad.

Raina believes the inclusion of Thakur will give extra strength to the team's seam-bowling department.

‘’There is plenty of experience in this team, particularly in the seam attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in particular, leads the way when it comes to experience and knowledge of how to deal with the big games. The inclusion of Shardul Thakur can also give extra strength to the fast bowlers that Virat has at his disposal,” said Raina.

India will play warm-up games against England and Australia in the lead-up to their T20 World Cup campaign. The former T20 champions will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on October 24.

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