Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy referred his comeback into the India side after three long years as "rebirth" and an "emotional moment," although he thanked legendary R Ashwin for making him grow in confidence during the last edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League. Varun's fine spell of 3/31 put the visitors on the back foot, and India chased down Bangladesh's meager total of 127 with 49 balls to spare, taking the first game of the three-match series 1-0.
"After three long years, it was definitely emotional for me. Feels nice to be back in the Blues. It feels like a rebirth, I just want to stick to the process, that's what I have been following in the IPL as well," Varun told broadcasters 'Jio Cinema' after the match.
Varun troubled the Bangladesh batters, who failed to read him. Among them was the middle-order batter Jaker Ali, who had his stumps castled with a ball that turned back in. "A great feeling ," said the 33-year-old spinner, playing just his seventh T20I, and quickly added, "I'd like to just absorb it and not look ahead too much.".
"I don't want to go beyond what's there and I just want to stay in the present, that's why I don't want to think too much or express too much. After IPL, I played a few tournaments, and one of those was TNPL (Tamil Nadu Premier League); it's a very good tournament and high standard as well."
Working with the country's off-spinner R Ashwin in TNPL really worked well for him and boosted his morale. "That's a place where I work a lot, with Ash bhai also, we won the championship as well. That gave me the confidence here. It was a good preparation for me for this series."
On the dropped catch off his bowling in his first over, Varun said it's part of the game. "It could have gone my way but that's how cricket is, I can't complain, thankful to God. There have been many challenges; once you are not in the Indian side, people tend to write you off very easily. You need to stay on the highest level, again and again knock the door, thankfully this time it happened. Hopefully, I can keep continuing my good work.".
Arshdeep Singh, declared Player of the Match, was mighty impressed with Mayank Yadav's bowling on his comeback from a long injury layoff. "Even my normal balls felt like slower balls compared to his (Mayank's) pace. Really excited the way everyone bowled, especially Mayank," he said.
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