Former England captain Kevin Pietersen said it was a good call made by India to include Varun Chakravarthy in the squad for the ODI series against Jos Buttler and his men. But Pietersen admitted that the visitors will fare better against the mystery spinner in the 50-over format after being completely outplayed by Varun in the 5-match T20Is.
Varun picked up a total of 14 wickets and was adjudged as the Player Of The Series for his performance. The spinner was spotted training with the ODI squad on Tuesday, February 4, and later it was confirmed that he had been included for the upcoming 3-match series. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Dram Bell Scotch Whisky, as quoted by PTI, Pietersen said that the England batters would get more time to spend against the mystery spinner when it comes to the ODIs.
“The English batters would be better against him in the one-dayers because they can spend more time. It’s a longer format, not every ball is an event. But I think it is a great decision (to add Chakravarthy),” said Pietersen.
India’s updated squad for ODI series against England
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Could have been 2-2 coming to Mumbai if concussion sub was done correct
Pietersen said that the T20I series was disappointing from England’s perspective as they lost 1-4. However, the former batter commented on the concussion sub fiasco during the Pune T20I, where Harshit Rana came in to replace an injured Shivam Dube.
Pietersen felt that the series could have been 2-2 heading into the match in Mumbai. n
“It was a disappointing series from England’s perspective. I think that in the fourth T20I, if the concussion substitution had been done correctly, maybe England would have got up there,” he said.
“It would have been 2-2 coming to the Wankhede (Stadium for final T20I). It would have been way more on the game. But it didn’t happen.”
India and England will square off in the first ODI in Nagpur on February 6.