Self-imposed pressure key to World Cup preparations, says Varun Chakravarthy

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 08:20:00 +0000

Varun Chakravarthy. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

India spinner Varun Chakravarthy says his T20 World Cup preparation is centred around backing his lengths, maintaining confidence and constantly challenging himself mentally even in matches that appear straightforward.

The 34-year-old has 51 wickets from 32 T20Is, including six wickets in the first three games of the ongoing five-match series against South Africa.

Chakravarthy is vital for India’s title defence at the World Cup, which is scheduled to be held from February 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka.

“It is very important to keep putting pressure on yourself to get ready for the World Cup,” the Karnataka-born spinner said on ‘Follow The Blues’ on Jiohotstar. “You have to challenge yourself even when there is no challenge. If a match feels easy, you have to create that pressure mentally and start challenging yourself.

“Confidence, bowling the right lengths, and understanding the opposition are key. That is one major factor I want to take into the World Cup. With a better understanding of the opposition, I think I can do well,” he said.

Chakravarthy said sticking to the basics and trusting his skill-set have been the key to his recent success at the international level. “My plan is simple, stick to the basics and bowl my length. Sometimes it works, and thankfully in the last three matches, it has worked well. I will try the same in the next match,” he said.

India and South Africa are set to face off in the fifth and final T20I here on Friday (December 19, 2025).

“When you are not confident, your mindset affects your skill. The key is to stay confident and back your skills. That is when you execute well, without much change. That is the secret to being consistent,” he said.

“At this level, you must be consistent, playing at the highest level is important to know where you stand,” Chakravarthy said. “In my first match at the international level, I struggled a bit initially and that’s when I understood a few things. I went back to practice and made corrections. So, it is very important to keep playing at the highest level.”

Published – December 19, 2025 01:50 pm IST

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Pakistan drop Usama Mir for Ireland and England T20s, bring back Haris Rauf

admin — Thu, 02 May 2024 10:02:40 +0000

Members of Pakistan cricket team’s selection committee, from left to right, Abdul Razak, Mohammad Yousaf and Wahab Riaz give a press conference to announce squad for upcoming T20 cricket matches against Ireland and England, in Lahore, Pakistan on May 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistani selectors on May 2 dropped leg-spinner Usama Mir for the T20 series in Ireland and England while recalling fast bowler Haris Rauf.

Also Read: ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2024: full schedule, dates and venues

Selectors Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz told a media conference that Pakistan’s World Cup squad would be picked based on the performances of the matches against Ireland and England.

Also read: India’s T20 World Cup squad

The three-match series in Ireland begins May 10 before Pakistan move to England for four games from May 22.

“They are a few fitness issues with Muhammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan and Irfan Khan Niazi but there has been a significant improvement in their fitness and we are confident they will play in the coming matches,” Wahab said.

Wahab also justified recalling pacer Hasan Ali for the coming tour and said that he was already under consideration and basically he is a back up for Haris.

“If Haris is fit and performs well in coming matches he is our first choice. He has started bowling but if he doesn’t come through we have Hasan Ali.” Haris got unfit during the initial stages of Pakistan Super League and has not played since February.

Razzaq said that leg-spinner Usama has been dropped since Pakistan already has Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed in the squad.

Yousuf insisted that the recent 2-2 result in the T20 series against a depleted New Zealand outfit was not a bad one.

“It is true that New Zealand were missing some main players but it is also for the first time that we also fully implemented the rotation policy by trying out new players in the series,” he said.

Yousuf also said that they were pushing the players to be more innovative in their playing their shots and admitted that some players came up short on that front.

“Look unless we are not ready to accept failure and move our batters will never be ready to adopt innovative stroke play,” he said.

Wahab also said that they had spoken with the new head coach Gary Kirsten and they all agreed that first and foremost they had to remove the insecurity and fear of failure from the minds of the players.

“Our aim is to give them an environment where they can give their beat and play fearlessly.” Wahab also said that selecting the playing eleven would remain the domain of the captain and the selectors would not interfere in that area.

The selectors also defended Babar Azam’s ability as a captain.

“No one is a born captain but from what we saw in the New Zealand (NZ) series there was improvement in his leadership and we are hopeful he will become better and he has captaincy experience. We want to remain on the same page with him,” Razzaq said.

Squads: Babar Azam (Captain), Muhammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Irfan Khan Niazi, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Muhammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Abbas Afridi and Agha Ali Salman.

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Self-imposed pressure key to World Cup preparations, says Varun Chakravarthy

Pakistan drop Usama Mir for Ireland and England T20s, bring back Haris Rauf