Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra hailed Varun Chakravarthy after his fine comeback to the Indian team in the opening T20I against Bangladesh at the New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, Gwalior on Sunday, which India won by seven wickets.

Chakravarthy was returning to the national team after a long gap of three years but he was able to hit the ground running. The mystery spinner returned with impressive figures of 3-31 in his quota of four overs and played a key role in skittling out the Tigers at 127.

The Tamil Nadu spinner accounted for Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, and Rishad Hossain in his fine spell.

“Arshdeep was very, very good and so was Varun Chakaravarthy. He needs to be spoken about because he made a comeback. Comebacks are difficult because people judge you very quickly. Since they have seen your downfall, they write you off very quickly,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

Chopra added there were doubts if Chakravarthy would be preferred ahead of Ravi Bishnoi in the playing XI.

“Secondly, you also get self-doubts as you are waiting for such a long time. If one thing goes wrong, it seems like everything will go downhill. There was a question for sure whether he would get an opportunity to play ahead of Ravi Bishnoi. Ravi Bishnoi was ahead in the pecking order and he too has picked up a lot of wickets,” Chopra observed.

Chakravarthy should have got the wicket of Towhid Hridoy in his first over but the right-hander was dropped by Nitish Reddy and the spinner was taken for 15 runs in his first over.

“However, Varun Chakaravarthy played and Nitsh Reddy couldn’t hold on to a catch in his first over. 15 runs went in the first over and you start thinking – Ouch, this wasn’t good, but he made a comeback after that,” he said.

The renowned commentator lauded the 33-year-old spinner for making a good comeback after an expensive first over.

“So after a comeback, he made another mini-comeback as the first over was expensive, but then you came back and picked up three wickets. A wrong shot was played, a slightly fuller delivery was played off the back foot, and the batter was caught in the deep. After that, he bowled a good googly, and then luck was in his favor slightly,” Chopra elaborated.

The second match of the series will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.