The continuing England tour of India 2025 has seen England’s vice-captain Harry Brook face challenges in adapting to Indian spinners, particularly Varun Chakravarthy. After being dismissed by Chakravarthy in each the primary and second T20Is, Brook made a relatively uncommon declare about his first dismissal. The England batter blamed ‘fog’ for his failure to select Chakravarthy’s supply in the course of the opening match at Eden Gardens. Nonetheless, the previous Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed Brook for making excuses.
Harry Brook struggles in opposition to Varun Chakravarthy
Within the eighth over of the primary T20I at Eden Gardens, Brook confronted Chakravarthy, who had been introduced in for his thriller spin. Chakravarthy delivered a googly across the off-stump, and Brook tried to push it down the bottom. Nonetheless, his try failed as he managed solely an inside edge that flicked his pads and finally rolled again to hit the stumps. Brook was dismissed for 17 off 14 balls, with two fours and a six.
After the dismissal, Brook was fast to supply an excuse, claiming that the fog in Kolkata had made it tough for him to select up the supply. “I used to be dismissed due to fog,” Brook mentioned, seemingly attributing his lack of ability to learn the ball to climate situations.
The next match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai noticed one other poor outing for Brook in opposition to the Indian spinner. Within the seventh over of England’s innings, Chakravarthy bowled one other supply that deceived Brook, resulting in his second dismissal by the identical bowler in as many video games. This time, the ball landed and spun in sharply, with Brook late to react. It slipped by means of the hole between his bat and pad, shattering the stumps. He was out for 13 off 8 balls, with one 4 and one six. The consistency with which Chakravarthy dismissed Brook highlighted the batter’s ongoing difficulties in opposition to the spinner’s variations.
Ravichandran Ashwin criticizes Brook’s ‘Fog’ excuse
Former Indian spinner Ashwin criticized Brook for blaming Kolkata’s fog for his dismissal within the first T20I, pointing on the market was no such excuse within the second T20I in Chennai. He prompt that his dismissals have been extra attributable to his lack of ability to learn the spinner’s bowling than exterior situations. Ashwin suggested Brook to notice that Chakravarthy primarily depends on googlies relatively than leg-spin, suggesting Brook ought to give attention to adapting to Chakravarthy’s bowling type.
“There was no smog in Chennai. So, Harry Brook mentioned he received out due to smog at Eden Gardens. I simply wish to inform one factor to Harry Brook – ‘Harry Brook, preserve this factor in thoughts that Varun Chakravarthy doesn’t bowl leg-spin a lot, his predominant energy is googlies solely,” Ashwin mentioned on his YouTube channel.
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Brook’s misreading of Chakravarthy’s googlies
Ashwin continued to spotlight Brook’s recurring errors, including that within the first T20I, Brook moved in the direction of the leg-stump and was bowled by a googly. The previous Indian cricketer additional emphasised that studying Chakravarthy’s hand to determine the googly is essential, including that lighting or exterior situations is not going to matter if a batter can not decode the spinner’s deliveries.
“Brook moved in the direction of the leg-stump and received bowled out at Eden Gardens. Once more, he coated the stumps and went on the entrance foot, he didn’t learn the googly and misplaced his stumps in Chennai. In case you see his hand, you possibly can learn the googly. It doesn’t matter how the sunshine is, in case you don’t see the googly coming, you received’t have the ability to play it,” Ashwin concluded.