India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy feels he bowled at his best but added there is still some scope for improvement after the hosts registered a 4-1 series win against England. The home team won the fifth and final T20I by a mammoth margin of 150 runs at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
Chakravarthy was the star of the series, bagging 14 wickets in five matches at an average of 9.86 and economy rate of 7.67 in the series. The leg-break spinner returned with impressive figures of 3-23 in the opener and also bagged a five-wicket haul in the third game of the series but his efforts went in vain as India lost that game by 26 runs.
The 33-year-old returned with figures of 2-25 in the two overs he bowled in the fifth T20I of the series when India were defending a huge total of 247 runs. Chakravarthy also said he has been working hard on his fielding with T. Dilip and the hard work is paying off
Chakravarthy said after he was awarded Player of the Series, “Happy that the fielding also drew some applause. The team has been emphasising on improving the fielding standards, and I have been working with our fielding coach. It is paying off. This is the best I have bowled, but there’s a lot of scope to improve. There were a few close balls – I shouldn’t have bowled that.”
He added, “I didn’t take them for granted – they’re a top side. It was about bowling the right ball at the right time. I was working on that. This is special, I would like to dedicate it to my son and my wife, and my parents also. Would like to thank Surya and GG for backing me.”
Chakravarthy was right on the money with his wrong one in the series and he would look to carry the good show.
The first ODI between India and England will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday.