New Zealand cricket team’s Matt Henry couldn’t help but lavish praise on Varun Chakravarthy. The Indian spinner made lives very hard for the Kiwi batters, with the latter being unable to read or pick up his deliveries. Santner and co. suffered a 44-run defeat at the hands of India. They will now head back to Pakistan where they will face South Africa in their Champions Trophy semi-final on March 5.
“Varun Chakravarthy bowled brilliantly”
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Matt noted that Varun bowled beautifully and ensured that the ball turned both ways. He admitted that with his variations, Chakravarthy put pressure on the opposition throughout the IND vs NZ tie. He credited India for playing the conditions beautifully and admitted that New Zealand fell short in the contest.
“Varun bowled beautifully, turned ball both ways. Was brilliant and put us under pressure throughout the game. India played the conditions beautifully, read the situation well. Unfortunately we couldn’t cross the line,” Henry said.
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Like Chakravarthy, Matt Henry also managed to get a five-wicket haul. The game marked the first instance when two five-wicket hauls were bagged in a single Champions Trophy match. Henry got rid of Shubman Gill (2) early in the innings, trapping him for an LBW. His next victim was Virat Kohli (11), who was dismissed thanks to a one-handed screamer from Glenn Phillips. He then returned to rattle the middle and lower-order batters. The New Zealand pacer added three more wickets to his tally by getting rid of Hardik Pandya, Jadeja and Shami.
Despite restricting India to 249 runs, the Kiwis couldn’t manage to chase down the target as they were bowled out for 205 runs. 9 out of the 10 wickets taken by India belonged to the spinners.
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