The course England tour of India 2025 has seen the vice-captain of England Harry Brook face challenges in adapting to Indian spinners, especially Varun Chakraborty. After being dismissed by Chakravarthy in both the first and second T20Is, Brook made a rather unusual claim about his first dismissal. The England batsman blamed ‘fog’ for not catching Chakravarthy’s delivery during the opening match at Eden Gardens. However, the former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has criticized Brook for making excuses.
Harry Brook fights Varun Chakravarthy
In the eighth over of the first T20I at Eden Gardens, Brook faced Chakravarthy, who had been brought in for his mystery spin. Chakravarthy gestured around the stump and Brook tried to push him towards the ground. However, his attempt failed as he only managed an inside edge that moved his pads and eventually rolled back to hit the stumps. Brook was dismissed for 17 off 14 balls, with two fours and a six.
After the dismissal, Brook was quick to make an excuse, claiming that fog in Calcutta had made it difficult for him to pick up the delivery. “I got fired because of the fog,” Brook said, apparently attributing his inability to read the ball to the weather conditions.
The next match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai saw another poor outing from Brook against the Indian spinner. In the seventh over of England’s innings, Chakravarthy bowled another delivery that fooled Brookwhich caused his second expulsion by the same player in as many games. This time, the ball landed and spun sharply, and Brook reacted late. It slid through the space between his bat and pad, breaking the stumps. He was out for 13 off 8 balls, one off four and one off six. The consistency with which Chakravarthy dismissed Brook highlighted the batsman’s continued difficulties against the spinner’s variations.
Ravichandran Ashwin slams Brook’s ‘Fog’ excuse
Former Indian spinner Ashwin criticized Brook for blaming the Kolkata fog for his dismissal in the first T20I, pointing out that there was no such excuse in the second T20I in Chennai. He suggested that his dismissals were due more to his inability to read the pins than to external conditions. Ashwin advised Brook to keep in mind that Chakravarthy relies mainly on googlies rather than leg-spin, suggesting that Brook should focus on adapting to Chakravarthy’s bowling style.
“There was no smog in Chennai. Then, Harry Brook said he went out because of the smog in Eden Gardens. I just want to say one thing to Harry Brook: ‘Harry Brook, keep in mind that Varun Chakravarthy doesn’t do much leg spin in bowling, his main strength is just googlies.”Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
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Brook’s misinterpretation of Chakravarthy’s googlies
Ashwin went on to highlight Brook’s recurring mistakes and added that in the first T20I, Brook moved towards leg stump and was bowled for a googly. The former Indian cricketer further emphasized that reading Chakravarthy’s hand to identify the googly is crucial, adding that lighting or external conditions will not matter if a batsman cannot decode the spinner’s deliveries.
“Brook advanced towards leg stump and was bowled at Eden Gardens. He again covered the stumps and moved forward on the front foot, didn’t read the googly and lost his stumps in Chennai. If you see his hand, you can read the googly. It doesn’t matter what the light is like, if you don’t see the googly coming, you won’t be able to play it,”Ashwin concluded.