“Why are you not getting Varun Chakaravarthy to bowl his overs?” - Aakash Chopra questions Indian team management

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned the Indian team management for not giving Varun Chakravarthy his full quota of four overs in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.

Notably, Varun managed to play all four group stage games, but bowled only 12 overs, scalping a total of nine wickets to emerge as the second-leading wicket-taker of the campaign with the best bowling figures of 3/7.

"Why are you not getting Varun Chakaravarthy to bowl his overs? You are not giving him all his overs. You have done it only once, against the USA, because you used only five bowlers. Do you do that with any batter? Do you ask them to come out if they are playing well and have scored 50-60 runs?" Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"You don't do that. They can play even 60 balls. A bowler can't bowl more than 24 balls, and you are not letting him bowl those 24 either. He would have taken at least one five-wicket haul, but you didn't let him do it. You didn't play him against New Zealand as well. If a batter needs rhythm, a bowler also needs that," he noted.

Furthermore, Chopra reckoned that the all-rounder Hardik Pandya should bowl with the new ball instead of rolling his arm in the middle overs, adding that he should open the bowling with Arshdeep Singh.

"I feel Hardik should be bowled with the new ball. You are making (Jasprit) Bumrah bowl with Arshdeep (Singh) currently, but you have to get four overs from Hardik. When Axar Patel comes in the next match, there will be left-handers in front - Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton and David Miller. So you would think when to get Axar to bowl his overs," he said.

"For that, it is important that you make Hardik bowl his overs with the new ball. Who dismissed Sahibzada Farhan? He only did it. Give him the new ball. He can pick up wickets. You shouldn't give him the fourth, fifth, or sixth over of the powerplay. Middle overs are not his strength. I think Hardik should open with Arshdeep Singh," Chopra concluded.

India will next take on South Africa in the first match of the Super 8 round at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, February 22.

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