Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya bury their faces seeing Varun Chakaravarthy’s fielding blunder: ‘The ball hit his feet and…’
Hardik Pandya was disappointed with Varun's efforts on the field as he hid his face in the disappointment.
Varun Chakravarthy had a sloppy moment on the field in his first game of Champions Trophy 2025 when India had a tough task to defend 250 against New Zealand. The mystery spinner was picked in the XI in place of Harshit Rana, who was rested after playing the first two matches in the tournament. The Men in Blue went ahead with a four-spinners attack in their final group-stage match.
Defending a 250-run target, India had a chance to get the wicket of Will Young in the fourth over. Hardik Pandya bowled a slower delivery in an attempt to deceive the New Zealand opener as he failed to time it, and Varun had a chance to grab a catch, but he was sloppy on the field and dropped the catch and eventually ended up kicking the ball to the boundary. Hardik was disappointed with Varun's efforts on the field as he hid his face in the disappointment. Former India captain Virat Kohli also looked shocked as he also hid his face.
Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who was commentating, also assessed Varun's efforts.
"You're not the best fielder, but you want to prove that you can do everything simple possible. And that's the catch that needed to be taken. He could have just probably waited on it and taken it on the bounce and given it back to the bowler. But here he is trying to show himself and everybody around that he could take that catch, and in the end, unluckily for him, the ball hit his field and rolled to the boundary," Dinesh Karthik said during the commentary.
Henry claims a fifer as IND post 249/9
Earlier, Matt Henry claimed a five-wicket haul, and the New Zealand fielders had an extraordinary day in the field, as India scored a below-par 249/9 in 50 overs.
After the top-order failure, Shreyas Iyer (79) and left-handed Axar Patel (42) put on 98 for the fourth wicket to rebuild the innings against a disciplined New Zealand attack. Hardik Pandya hit a run-a-ball 45 as he smashed four fours and two sixes to boost the total on a sluggish pitch.
