Ahmedabad: Kolkata Knight Riders leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s repeated failure to clear fitness tests at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru has ruled him out of the five-match T20I series against England. T Natarajan still remains doubtful for the series as he is recovering from a shoulder niggle at NCA.
“Varun Chakravarthy was selected because he recovered from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Australia series. He did his rehab at the NCA and started throwing normally. However, he has failed to clear the Yo-Yo test mark stipulated for a 2-km run at least twice,” a senior BCCI source told PTI.
Chakravarthy, who had missed out on the Australian tour due to a shoulder injury has not played any competitive games since early November.
“We can understand he was doing his rehab during Mushtaq Ali (T20 Championship). But then again, he didn’t play a single Vijay Hazare Trophy game. How do you assess his match fitness based on games that he played five months back?
“I guess Varun Chakravarthy is a lesson for selectors. If a player is generally not maintaining the standards set by this Indian team, his bowling alone can’t be a criteria for selection,” the source added.
