Erasmus calls Varun's spell a rare skill cricket hasn't witnessed before
The stadium was expectedly packed and the fans made a lot of noise, an environment Erasmus and Co. are not really familiar with
Varun Chakravarthy. Photo: Sportzpics for BCCI
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Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus had no qualms in accepting that his batters did not stand a chance against the mystery spin of Varun Chakravarthy, whose skill was something that they have never seen in associate cricket.
Chasing 210, Nambia kept themselves in the game till the powerplay. However, Chakravarthy was brought in the seventh over and struck on the very first ball with a googly.
He ended up taking three wickets in 12 balls and for Erasmus, the game was done there.
"It's mystery bowling. Yes, there's leg spin googly every now and again that you face, and people have become accustomed to that. It's only in a few countries that they have guys like Varun, Mujeeb and these types of guys.
"I don't think there's anyone in the associate cricket that bowls it. Honestly, I have to say that that was the game-breaker right there. It was really just a new skill that we've never seen," Erasmus said after the 93-run loss to India on Thursday night.
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Ahead of the game, Erasmus had spoken about the risk of his players being overawed by the occasion of playing hosts India in their own backyard.
The stadium was expectedly packed and the fans made a lot of noise, an environment Erasmus and Co. are not really familiar with.
However, they gave a good account of themselves in patches. First they bowled well in the death overs to limit India to 209 before taking the attack to the home bowlers in the powerplay.
Erasmus said the 93-run loss was not a fair reflection of how his team played.
"Through periods of that bowling performance (Chakravarthy's spell), guys stuck up, especially towards the back end of the game of their batting innings. So that's kind of something that you have to really get accustomed to is when you play in big stadiums in front of crowds and against big teams.
"It's not to be overawed as a first step. Then you can express your skills better. I felt that some guys did it in patches, but unfortunately some of those big overs that leaked and also that period of batting when we went three or four wickets straight," he said.
To graduate to the next level, Erasmus feels the players must learn to perform on the biggest stage.
"If you want to be a high-class cricketer, then you have to have courage, but you also have to have calmness and the presence of mind to perform your skills under that pressure. For example, my shot was just a little bit way too far away from the ball. I have to get it closer to the ball.
"How can you, under the exposure that you have there with 40,000 fans and high-quality bowling, how can you access the same skills that you do when you play your peers, I guess, when you play in associate cricket and play in front of no crowds," said the straight-talking skipper.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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First Published: Feb 13 2026 | 4:11 PM IST