Varun Chakravarthy opens up on maiden India call-up, says 'it all looks like some destiny'

Surprised with his India call-up, Kolkata's star spinner this season, Varun Chakravarthy hopes to replicate his IPL success as he travels to Australia with the Men in Blue in November for the T20 series. The architect-turned-cricketer received his maiden India call-up on Monday while he was playing in the IPL 2020 against Punjab. The spinner has made a huge impact in the ongoing tournament, with his most impressive performance coming against Delhi last week, where he picked 5 wickets.

Speaking to BCCI after receiving the call-up for Team India, Chakravarthy said, "I did not know before, I got to know after the match was over. It is surreal. My basic goal initially was to play in the team regularly and perform and contribute to the wins. Hopefully, I was able to do well till now and hopefully, I'll be able to perform for the Indian team." 

"I really didn't know what is happening around me, I am not much active on social media. I just want to thank all the selectors who have kept faith in me. I will talk to my parents, my fiance and share happiness with them. It all looks like some destiny but, I am really short of words. India call-up is definitely a big thing for me and I was really not expecting it," he added. 

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BCCI announces squad for Australia tour 

Ahead of the two-month-long tour of Australia, the BCCI on Monday announced Team India squads for the limited-overs and Test series. Limited-overs Vice-Captain Rohit Sharma has been excluded from the squads and will miss the much-anticipated tour after sustaining an injury during the ongoing IPL season in UAE. Punjab skipper KL Rahul has been named Vice-captain of the side for the limited-overs series. Other notable inclusions in the T20 team include Sanju Samson, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar and Deepak Chahar. The ODI squad announced is more or less similar to the T20 squad with the additional inclusion of Shubman Gill in the team. Check the full squads here 

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India Tour of Australia 2020

India will be touring Australia for a four-match Test series that is expected to get underway on December 3. The first Test will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane.  The second Test match at the Adelaide Oval will be a Day-Night affair while the last two matches will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Sydney Cricket Ground respectively. Team India will take part in three T20Is, three ODIs and four Test matches against Australia.

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