'Batters would be better...not every ball is an event': England legend believes Varun Chakravarthy would not be much of a threat in ODIs

The inclusion of star Indian bowler Varun Chakravarthy in India's squad for the ODI series against Jos Buttler-led England cricket team was deemed a wise move by former England captain Kevin Pietersen. However, Pietersen acknowledged that even though Varun outplayed them in the five-match T20Is, the visitors will perform much better against the mystery spinner in the 50-over format.

Kevin Pietersen on Varun Chakravarthy

Varun was named the Player of the Series for his performance, taking 14 wickets across five games. Following his astonishing performance in the shortest format of the game, the spinner has been added to the forthcoming three-match series. He was also seen training with the ODI team prior to the announcement on February 4 (Tuesday). Pietersen stated that the England batters will have more time to face the mystery spinner in the ODIs.

"The English batters would be better against him in the one-dayers because they can spend more time. It's a longer format, not every ball is an event. But I think it is a great decision (to add Chakravarthy)," Pietersen was quoted as saying while speaking on the sidelines of the Dram Bell Scotch Whisky launch.

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Pietersen on the outcome of the T20I series

Pietersen stated that England's 1-4 loss in the T20I series was disheartening. The former batter did, however, offer some remarks on the concussion sub-disaster that occurred during the Pune T20I, when Harshit Rana replaced injured Shivam Dube. Pietersen believed that going into the match in Mumbai, the series might have been 2-2.

"It was a disappointing series from England's perspective. I think that in the fourth T20I, if the concussion substitution had been done correctly, maybe England would have got up there. It would have been 2-2 coming to the Wankhede (Stadium for final T20I). It would have been way more on the game. But it didn't happen," he said.

India's updated squad for ODIs

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy