India vs Scotland T20 World Cup 2021: Varun Chakravarthy sweats it out on Diwali, undergoes fitness drills

Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy hit the ICC Academy in Dubai on Thursday (November 4) ahead of the game against Scotland in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. While the Indian squad decided to skip the optional training session on Diwali, the spinner underwent fitness drills under the watchful eyes of physio Nitin Patel and assistant strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai.

A left calf issue had seen him miss Wednesday’s game against Afghanistan and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was drafted into the XI. The experienced campaigner made it a night to remember as he finished with two wickets and was impressive as he bowled in partnership with Ravindra Jadeja.

Commenting on returning to the white-ball team, Ashwin said: “The news I got selected for the World Cup was very heartening news. I had fun after hearing the news in terms of enjoying myself and gratification from what I wanted to achieve in life. That was one side of it, I had a special dream of being there in the World Cup and doing special things for the team.

“Two losses I did feel a bit low about it, it is never special when you lose games, the chances of qualification did take a dent, but after yesterday’s win, we have our fingers crossed and hope things go right. Everything I wanted to execute yesterday, fell into place,” he added.

"Who reminds you of the Burj Khalifa?"

Varun Chakravarthy compares his teammates to landmarks in the UAE #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/y9TGSDMWCs

— ICC (@ICC) November 5, 2021

It will be interesting to see if Varun is drafted into the squad and three spinners are in the XI against Scotland at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The side would hope to register a comprehensive victory to further boost their net run rate in order to remain in the hunt for the qualification for semi-finals.

Scotland is yet to register a victory in the Super 12 stage but they cannot be taken lightly as they gave New Zealand a run for their money on Wednesday. Chasing 173, Scotland fell just 16 runs short, so the Men-in-Blue need to bring their A-game to register a win.