Mystery spinner Chakravarthy gives India a 'good headache'

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy emerged from the dugout to produce a match-winning display against New Zealand in his Champions Trophy debut on Sunday while also leaving India with a "happy headache" ahead of the tournament's knockout stage.

Chakravarthy is considered a 'mystery spinner' for his bag of tricks that include off-break, leg-break, googly and the 'carrom ball' that he pushes with his knuckle.

He was the player-of-the-series when India beat England 4-1 in a T20 series last month but has been warming the bench during the Champions Trophy being behind Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja in India's spin pecking order.

Having already secured their semifinal place, India replaced seamer Harshit Rana and picked Chakravarthy, whose 5-42 in only his second ODI secured their 44-run win.

Varun Chakaravarthy weaved his magic to claim a fantastic five-wicket haul in Dubai 🌟

He wins the @aramco POTM award 🎖️#ChampionsTrophy pic.twitter.com/uBVWnZj5pN

— ICC (@ICC) March 2, 2025

"He has got something different about him, there's no doubt about it," India captain Rohit Sharma said.

"So we just wanted to try and see what he can offer, and we saw he has a lot to offer."

India, who topped Group A with their third consecutive win, will face Australia in the first semifinal on Tuesday and Rohit sounded unsure about the makeup of his spin attack for the match.

"We got to think about what we want to do in the next game, but obviously (it's) a good headache to have.

"Varun was class today. If he gets it right, it's very difficult to read him."

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his side had not anticipated the wicket in Dubai to be so slow. However, he expected pacers from both sides to have more say in Wednesday's second semifinal in Lahore against South Africa.

"Our next game is in Lahore where (Matt) Henry will be massive," Santner said of his pace spearhead, who claimed 5-42 against India.

"On those wickets with some pace and bounce, they (South Africa) have four good pacers so we will have to see how we play them.

"We have to wait and see if it is a used surface or a fresh one."