Mystery Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was back in action after a two-month recovery, has been ruled out of the remainder of the three-game series in Delhi. Moreover, he is doubtful for the Asian Games in Japan.
According to a report on Cricbuzz, Varun complained of a side strain after the first T20I, and the team management has decided to release him from the squad without any further delay. He would be immediately heading to the BCCI CoE in Bengaluru for further assessment.
Chakaravarthy bowled four overs on Sunday night at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. He finished with impressive figures of 1/16. Notably, Varun spent almost two months at the CoE and was picked for the Afghanistan series and the Asian Games after achieving full fitness.
At the post-match media interaction after the first T20I, Varun spoke about injuries being part and parcel of an athlete’s life. Interestingly, the BCCI is yet to come up with an apt replacement for the TN spinner.
“Look, injuries are very common for all sportspeople, and it just shows that we are working; we are giving our best. Sometimes we push beyond our limits, and that is when the body gives in. So, that is when we have to take a step back and work better and come back stronger,” Varun said on Sunday night.
India’s updated squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson [WK], Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur
