IND vs BAN: Varun Chakravarthy defeats Bangladesh in India comeback in 1st T20I

Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy produced a remarkable performance in his India comeback after two years and 11 months in the first T20I against Bangladesh on Sunday, October 6, at the New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior. The wrist spinner took 3/31 as he tore through the Bangladesh middle order.

Chakravarthy came to bowl in the fifth over of the innings and immediately created an opportunity when Towhid Hridoy hit him in the air towards square leg. However, debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy failed to save the catch as he missed the ball completely and the ball ran towards the boundary.

IND vs BAN 1st T20I Live

After being given a reprieve, Hridoy scored another boundary on the very next ball while captain Najmul Hossain Shanto smashed him for a six on the last ball. As a result, Chakravarthy lost 15 runs in his first over.

However, the 33-year-old made a brilliant comeback in his next over, bowling Hridoy (12 off 18) over long and picking his first wicket. He deceived Jaker Ali even more with his variations and dismissed him with a googly in his next over to take his second wicket.

In his last over, Chakravarthy also got rid of Rishad Hossain (11 off 5), who also missed his shot and found Hardik Pandya deep at mid-wicket. As a result, the wrist spinner recorded figures of 3/31 on his comeback, which were also his best figures in T20Is.

Mayank Yadav also shines in his debut

Notably, Chakravarthy last played for India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 against Scotland and Since then, he has missed 86 games for the team. It is the second-highest number of T20Is ever missed by an Indian player, after Khaleel Ahmed, who played a T20I after missing 104 matches against Zimbabwe earlier in his year.

In the meantime, Debutant Mayank Yadav also impressed as he started his international career by bowling first against Hridoy. He became the third Indian to start his T20I career with a girl after Ajit Agarkar and Arshdeep Singh. He also picked up his first international wicket by dismissing Mahmudullah (1 off 2) in his second over.