IND vs ENG: Ravichandran Ashwin urges Harry Brook to stop making excuses after his consecutive dismissals by Varun Chakravarthy

The ongoing England tour of India 2025 has seen England’s vice-captain Harry Brook face challenges in adapting to Indian spinners, especially Varun Chakravarthy. After being dismissed by Chakravarthy in both the first and second T20Is, Brook made a rather unusual claim about his first dismissal. The England batter blamed ‘fog’ for his failure to pick Chakravarthy’s delivery during the opening match at Eden Gardens. However, the former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed Brook for making excuses.

Harry Brook struggles against 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 delivered a googly around the off-stump, and Brook attempted to push it down the ground. However, his attempt failed as he managed only an inside edge that flicked 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 provide an excuse, claiming that the fog in Kolkata had made it difficult for him to pick up the delivery. “I was dismissed because of fog,” Brook said, seemingly attributing his inability to read the ball to weather conditions.

The following match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai saw another poor outing for Brook against the Indian spinner. In the seventh over of England’s innings, Chakravarthy bowled another delivery that deceived Brook, leading to his second dismissal by the same bowler in as many games. This time, the ball landed and spun in sharply, with Brook late to react. It slipped through the gap between his bat and pad, shattering the stumps. He was out for 13 off 8 balls, with one four and one six. The consistency with which Chakravarthy dismissed Brook highlighted the batter’s ongoing difficulties against the spinner’s variations.

Ravichandran Ashwin criticizes Brook’s ‘Fog’ excuse

Former Indian spinner Ashwin criticized Brook for blaming Kolkata’s fog for his dismissal in the first T20I, pointing out there was no such excuse in the second T20I in Chennai. He suggested that his dismissals were more due to his inability to read the spinner’s bowling than external conditions. Ashwin advised Brook to note that Chakravarthy primarily relies on googlies rather than leg-spin, suggesting Brook should focus on adapting to Chakravarthy’s bowling style.

“There was no smog in Chennai. So, Harry Brook said he got out because of smog at Eden Gardens. I just want to tell one thing to Harry Brook – ‘Harry Brook, keep this thing in mind that Varun Chakravarthy does not bowl leg-spin much, his main strength is googlies only,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

Also READ: IND vs ENG, 2nd T20I: Here’s how Gautam Gambhir’s guidance helped Tilak Verma in playing a match-winning knock

Brook’s misreading of Chakravarthy’s googlies

Ashwin continued to highlight Brook’s recurring mistakes, adding that in the first T20I, Brook moved towards the leg-stump and was bowled by 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 batter cannot decode the spinner’s deliveries.

“Brook moved towards the leg-stump and got bowled out at Eden Gardens. Again, he covered the stumps and went on the front foot, he did not read the googly and lost his stumps in Chennai. If you see his hand, you can read the googly. It doesn’t matter how the light is, if you don’t see the googly coming, you won’t be able to play it,” Ashwin concluded.