After India’s loss, Varun Chakravarthy shared his thoughts about the match conditions in Rajkot. He explained how the pitch became slower in the second innings, which helped England’s spinners. The team expected dew, but it did not come, which worked in England’s favor.
“What I observed was that the pitch definitely got slower in the second innings. We thought that there might be dew, but it didn’t come. So, that definitely played in their favour,” Chakravarthy said in the post-match press conference.
Under the experience of Adil Rashid, England’s spin attack fully used the match conditions. Rashid was even more economical than Chakravarthy, who had a brilliant first innings, taking 5 wickets for just 24 runs in his 4 overs. However, in the second innings, the England veteran gave away only 15 runs in his 4 overs and took an important wicket.
“And obviously, Adil Rashid is a legend, and he knows how to bowl. He has that control over his speed and, yeah,” Chakravarthy added, praising Rashid’s skill.
Rashid made things very tough for India’s batters with his sharp spin bowling. While India was chasing 172, he ensured that England maintained their dominance after reducing India to 86/5.
He made life difficult for Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya by keeping things very tight during the middle overs. His clever bowling made it tough for them to rotate the strike. Rashid didn’t give any loose balls to hit, which increased the required run rate and built more pressure on India.
Even though Rashid took just one wicket, his tight bowling and economical spell showed how valuable he is for England.
Rashid completely outplayed Tilak Varma with a brilliant delivery. Among all bowlers in the match, he had the best economy rate of just 3.80, making him the most effective bowler on both sides.
