DUBAI: India mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has said that wickets in the ongoing Asia Cup are not offering much assistance to spinners in the early stages of matches, but it has been comparatively easier for them to extract some purchase from the track in the final 10 overs so far.
Chakravarthy, who has taken four wickets in four games at an impressive economy rate of 5.85, has also been unlucky as several catches have been dropped off his bowling during the course of the tournament.
When asked if he felt more comfortable bowling towards the back-end in this tournament, the Tamil Nadu mystery spinner nodded in agreement, citing a softer ball and the spread-out field as contributing factors.
"The harder the ball is, it definitely is not getting much purchase for a spinner. Talking from a spinner's perspective, if you are bowling in the powerplay or right after the powerplay, there's not much help from the wicket. But as the game progresses and as the field spreads out, it's getting better," he explained.
Chakravarthy added that run containment is not an option in Powerplays and that bowlers need to focus on wickets.
"In Powerplay, the only aim is to look for wickets. It's just looking for that one ball if it pitches on that right spot and it turns a little bit and it can edge it. It's about looking for that because that's my role in the team. Even if I go for little runs, my aim is to keep on attacking and try to look for more wickets," he said.
He noted that against Bangladesh too, once the ball got older, he found himself more effective.
"It was just that initially the ball was skidding on more and as the ball started getting older, I started getting a little bit more purchase from the wicket," said Chakravarthy.
India entered the finals after a 41-run win on Wednesday and will take on old rivals Pakistan in the summit clash here on Sunday.