Spinner Varun Chakravarthy emerged from the dugout to produce a match-winning display against New Zealand in his Champions Trophy debut while also leaving India with a "happy headache" ahead of the knockout stage.
Chakravarthy is considered a 'mystery spinner' for his bag of tricks that include off-break, leg-break, googly and the 'carrom ball' that he pushes with his knuckle.
He was the player of the series when India beat England 4-1 in T20 last month but has been warming the bench in the Champions Trophy, as he is behind Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja in India's spin pecking order.
Having already secured their semi-final place, India replaced seamer Harshit Rana and picked Chakravarthy, whose five for 42 in only his second ODI secured their 44-run win. "He has got something different about him, there's no doubt about it," captain Rohit Sharma said. "So we just wanted to try and see what he can offer, and we saw he has a lot to offer."
India, who topped Group A with their third consecutive win, will face Australia in the first semi-final today and Rohit sounded unsure about the makeup of his spin attack for the match. "We got to think about what we want to do in the next game, but obviously it's a good headache to have," he said. "Varun was class today. If he gets it right, it's very difficult to read him."
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his side had not anticipated the wicket in Dubai to be so slow. However, he expected pace bowlers from both sides to have more say in tomorrow's second semi in Lahore against South Africa.
"Our next game is in Lahore where Matt Henry will be massive," Santner said of his pace spearhead, who claimed five for 42 against India.
REUTERS
Varun Chakravarthy took five for 42 against New Zealand. AFP
