DC vs KKR: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav vs Varun Chakravarthy — India’s spin trio faces battle within

NEW DELHI: The contest between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday night offers an interesting subplot. On view will be three of India’s frontline spin options in the T20 setup — Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. Though they were part of the high of India’s T20 World Cup title defence in March, the trio has endured its share of struggles since.

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For KKR’s Varun, problems began to crop up during the course of that successful T20 World Cup campaign. Though he emerged as the joint-highest wicket-taker alongside Jasprit Bumrah with 14 wickets, rivals seemed to get a better read on his mystery spin from the Super-8 stage. He claimed just five wickets in the last five World Cup matches and his tournament economy climbed past nine.




His lean patch continued in the initial stages of the IPL as Varun went wicketless in the first two matches before being sidelined by a hand injury. In fact, Varun had to wait until his fourth match this season, against Gujarat Titans, to get into the wickettakers’ column as he finished with 2/34 in Ahmedabad.

Once he got back among the wickets, though, the 34-year-old showed signs of returning to his best. In recent matches, he has used the crease well and come up with subtle variations to reap dividends. He has claimed eight wickets in the last three matches, coinciding with KKR’ hattrick of wins.

KKR mentor Dwayne Bravo said the injury break seemed to have done Varun a world of good. “Varun is a world-class spinner and had just come from a hectic World Cup. Sometimes a break at the right time is important. Nobody doubted his ability. The g roup has supported him throughout,” said the former West Indies allrounder.

On the other hand, Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav is having a nightmarish season. The rust from warming the bench for the most part of India’s T20 World Cup campaign seems to be showing. He has been guilty of bowling too short and has claimed just seven wickets in 10 games while going at more than 10 runs per over.

However, Kuldeep’s teammate David Miller backed the left-arm wristspinner. “He is a great character and for me it is important to have those kinds of guys continually playing, because he is a match-winner. So take the good with the bad. There have been one or two games where he has not bowled the best that he could have,” said Miller.

DC Skipper Axar, however, has fared better than his spin-bowling partner. Though he is the leading wicket-taker for the team this season, nine wickets from 10 games is not a statistic the leftarm spinner would be too proud of. Moreover, some of the decisions Axar has taken as skipper have invited criticism and he will be feeling the heat.

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