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Shastri, Gavaskar, and Vaughan trolled Harry Brook after he got out to Varun Chakaravarthy again despite playing in the ‘cleaner air’ of Chennai.
Harry Brook’s dismissal off Varun Chakaravarthy (PC: Sportzpics)
Indian and English ex-cricketers brutally trolled Harry Brook when he got out to spinner Varun Chakaravarthy for the second time in two matches, after making blaming the Kolkata ‘smog’ for his troubles in the first one.
Chakaravarthy got Brook out on the third ball of his first over — the seventh of England’s first innings in the second T20I in Chennai’s Chepauk. The right-hander couldn’t read the googly and played outside the line, allowing the ball to sneak through the gap between his bat and pad and bowl him.
It was identical to how he got at the Eden Gardens, again as Chakaravarthy’s first wicket of the match. However, before the second match, he said he hoped the visibility would be better in Chennai because the smog in Kolkata ‘made it hard’ for him and his teammates to spot Chakaravarthy’s variations.
So, as soon as he got out on Saturday, former India head coach Ravi Shastri commented, “Once again, it’s Varun Chakaravarthy. You don’t need the smog, this has sneaked through and it has crashed into the stumps.
Former India captain, Sunil Gavaskar, added on air, “Varun Chakravarthy is looking at him, and saying look if there’s any smog there?”
Not just the Indian experts, but erstwhile England captain Michael Vaughan also took it to X (formerly TwitteR) to troll Brook.
He said, “Much Smog in Chennai ? Just asking … #INDvENG”
What did Harry Brook say?
Brook’s controversial remark came during the pre-match press conference. The England vice-captain also praised Chakaravarthy but seemed to suggest he’d have done better in conditions with ‘cleaner air’.
“Chakaravarthy is an exceptionally good bowler, but with the smog the other night, it was a lot harder to pick. Hopefully, the air is a bit clearer here and we can see the ball a bit easier,” Brook had said.
Chakaravarthy took another wicket, that of Jamie Overton, and Axar Patel took two as well. Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Abhishek Sharma all took one each. However, England did well despite the regular breakthroughs and managed to put up a par score of 165/9.
India were 59/3 at the end of the powerplay in the chase.
