Champions Trophy: Why Rohit Sharma may follow the four-spinner template against Australia | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma stated that Varun Chakravarthy‘s outstanding performance against New Zealand has made the four-spinner pattern highly “tempting.” However, Sharma did not commit to using it in the Champions Trophy semifinal match against Australia.
In their 44-run victory in Dubai on Sunday, India’s side, which included Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel, thrashed the Kiwis by splitting nine wickets between them.
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“We really need to think, even if we want to play four spinners, how we can squeeze four spinners. The reason I say it is because we are very much aware of the conditions here and we know exactly what works and what doesn’t work,” Rohit said in his pre-match press conference.

“So, we will think about it, what is the right combination to go with, but it is tempting,” he added.
Chakravarthy, who replaced the rested Harshit Rana was outstanding and returned with figures of 5/42. Rohit stated that the spinner is undoubtedly on the team management’s radar.
“He just showed what he is capable of. Now, it is up to us to think and see how we can get that combination right. He got a game, and he did everything that was asked for.
“He has got something different about him and when he gets it right, he knocks people over and he takes 5-5. So, it is very tempting to think about what to do, which is a good headache to have. We will also assess the Australian batting lineup to see what kind of bowling options will work against them,” he detailed.

The Tamil Nadu spinner also erased the memories of his lackluster performance against Pakistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup at this stadium during his game-winning effort against the Kiwis.
Chakravarthy’s improvements were described by Rohit.
“He has become more accurate now from the last time he played for India in 2021. There was a little bit of inexperience in him as well because he hadn’t played a lot of cricket.
“But right now in the last two or three years he has played a lot of cricket whether it’s domestic cricket, IPL and now for India in T20s and now the ODIs as well. So, he understands his bowling really well,” he said.
The Mumbai player claimed that Chakravarthy’s wicket column now reflects the amount of effort he has recently put into his technique.
“You know, some of our batters also couldn’t figure that (variations) out , which is always nice. His pace variation now is superb. When you have a little bit of mystery, you don’t want to be a one-dimensional bowler and bowl with the same speed.
“You need something different, the pace variation and the accuracy as well. So, he has worked on both and now you see that he is getting a lot of wickets which is a good sign for us as a team,” he added.
There were considerable concerns when Chakravarthy was selected for India’s CT team before players like Mohammed Siraj and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Rohit gave the justification.
“It is just the talent. If there is something really special about that particular player, you want to fast track him. Certain formats require a certain skill set and whenever we look at these kinds of players, if the talent is there, then you don’t want to shy away from blooding them.”
The criticism of packing the side with spinners was not taken too personally by Rohit.
“There will be questions asked, there will be few eyebrows raised but as a team you want to do certain things which can help you win games. So, it’s important to understand that talent and I have been here long enough to understand what kind of players are talented.
“With Varun especially, we had to sacrifice a batsman which we thought it’s only five games in this tournament and it’s very unlikely that batter is going to play at any stage unless there is an injury.”
Against New Zealand, India’s best three players-Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill-had a poor game, leaving the team reeling at 30 for three. However, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Shreyas Iyer all batted brilliantly to help India to a manageable total.
According to Rohit, the team’s ability to score runs from middle-order was crucial in the tournament’s closing stages.
“The middle-order is very experienced but to just get some batting time in the middle and to get those runs and get that fighting total was very very important from our standpoint.
“Shreyas, KL, Hardik and Axar, they batted brilliantly which is a good sign for us going into the semis because we wanted to have these kind of situations where we are slightly under pressure and then the middle-order takes us through to that target which they did,” he said.
Axar was promoted to No. 5 ahead of KL Rahul, and Rohit commended him for repaying the think tank’s faith in him.
“The clear message was given to him when we started the ODI series against England. That no matter what, you will bat at No. 5. The kind of improvement he has shown with the bat over the last year or so is superb and that is where we felt that we can utilise him in the middle.
“He likes to take the game on, likes to play his shots. And sometimes when you are in trouble, you want to always take that positive route. He showed it in the T20 World Cup final (2024) which was a very, very crucial knock,” he added.