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Virender Sehwag defends Varun Chakravarthy’s T20 World Cup semifinal performance, citing flat tracks. Chakravarthy conceded 64 runs but clean-bowled Jos Buttler.
Varun Chakravarthy celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of England’s Jos Buttler (Picture credit: AP)
Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has said that Varun Chakravarthy gave away just 15-20 extra runs against England within the T20 World Cup semifinal and he mustn’t be penalised in any manner for a similar, since the pitches in Kolkata and Mumbai were very flat.
Chakravarthy had the worst outing of his T20I profession, returning figures of 1/64 within the semifinal.
Chakravarthy was taken on at Wankhede Stadium, with Jacob Bethell smashing three successive sixes off him. Although the previous managed to salvage the over by clean-bowling Jos Buttler, the opposition continued to focus on him.
Chakravarthy leaked eight more fours during his spell, ending with a dismal economy rate of 16. The one time he had a worse economy was in an IPL 2025 clash against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he conceded 54 runs in his three overs.
“Even Abhishek Sharma isn’t doing well. So, when you are backing him, what’s the problem with backing a bowler? It’s people’s job to criticise. In case you are playing a batter who has just one fifty in his last 5-6 innings and when you tell a bowler that you’ve gotten conceded runs within the last three games, so we’re in search of a unique bowler, what’s the guarantee that the alternative bowler will do well?” Sehwag said while speaking on Cricbuzz.
India will tackle Recent Zealand within the T20 World Cup final on the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8. The 2 teams also clashed within the 2025 Champions Trophy final within the UAE, where India emerged victorious by 4 wickets.
“The beating he (Chakravarthy) got against West Indies and England, the pitches were quite flat. At the least he took a wicket. There can be bowlers who just concede runs and don’t pick any wickets as well,” Sehwag said.
March 06, 2026, 08:12 IST
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