‘From side-spin to over-spin, it took me more than two years’ – Varun Chakaravarthy on weaving his mystery web

“In these three years, the major chunk of work which I put in was in my technical aspect,” he added.

In the recently concluded TNPL, Varun played a key role in helping R Ashwin-led Dindigul Dragons win the trophy. The off-spinner picked up 12 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.61. Varun thanked his TNPL captain Ashwin for helping him get back the confidence.

Varun Chakravarthy finishes with a three-wicket haul in his comeback match! 💪

Second catch for Hardik Pandya 🙌

Live – https://t.co/Q8cyP5jXLe#TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/3CxbO56Z4Z

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 6, 2024

“It’s (TNPL) is a very good tournament and of a high standard as well. That’s a place where I work a lot, with Ash (Ashwin) bhai also, we won the championship there so that gave me confidence here. I just played it a few months ago. It was good preparation for this series,” he told the broadcasters.

The 33-year-old spinner, playing only his seventh T20I, and his first in India also spoke about the difficult phase of his career and credited the domestic cricket for helping him find the mojo back.

“It has been a long 3 years and whenever there was a squad announced for a series, I used to feel like ‘why is my name not there?’ and I used to keep thinking about that. So that kind of brought the motivation within me that I should not leave this. I should go for the go for all out and I should try to make a comeback. I started playing a lot of domestic games and I started giving importance to it. That kind of helped me,” he said.

Varun had played a pivotal role in making Gautam Gambhir’s return to the Kolkata Night Riders (KKR) memorable. After a slow start to the season, Varun picked up 21 wickets, the second-highest of the season and helped KKR lift the trophy. On reuniting with Gambhir, the spinner said: “He is a man of few words, so, we didn’t talk much during our time in KKR. We only used to talk about the game.”
“However, this is my first match with him. So, I am waiting to spend more time with him.”

On the dropped catch off his bowling in his first over, Varun said it’s part of the game. “I am very happy to contribute towards the team. Yes, in the first over the catch could have gone my way but that’s how T20s are played. I felt the reverse-sweep six was a good ball but it still went for a six, so it’s all mixed emotions.”