Varun Chakravarthy has been on a flawless run since his return to the international arena.
Prosperity smooths out the rough edges in sports. Suddenly, everything clicks effortlessly for players to the extent that even they are surprised. The same has been happening in Varun Chakravarthy’s case.
Varun has been on a flawless run since his return to the international arena, which he labelled as a ‘rebirth’, against Bangladesh last month. Since his comeback, he has picked up 13 wickets at 8.84 runs apiece, dismissing a batter every 9.23 deliveries, in five innings.
Only once he has been wicketless, that too in a high-scoring encounter against Bangladesh where every bowler with multiple overs bowled had a higher economy rate than Varun (5.75) from both sides.
A lot of talk has been about overspin, which has done wonders for Varun 2.0. He revealed how he slowly made it his primary weapon to overcome his lean patch.
“I used to be a side-spin bowler, but right now, I have completely shifted to being an over-spin bowler. It’s a minute technical aspect of spin bowling, but it took me more than two years. I gradually tested it in TNPL and IPL. While the mental aspect also had to be worked on, the major chunk of effort I put in was on my technical side.”
Basically, when a bowler imparts overspin, the ball lands shorter than anticipated and gets more bounce to hit higher on the bat. It also enables the ball to get a more pronounced dip. Since Varun bowls at higher speeds, he gets dip at pace, making him impossible to hit.
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Take Towhid Hridoy’s dismissal from the first T20I against Bangladesh. Varun bowled a length delivery, to which Hridoy remained on the back foot and tried pulling it towards the deep midwicket region. However, the ball hit on top of the bat, near the sticker, and it went straighter towards long-on, where Hardik Pandya took an easy catch.
That length is another important aspect of this rejuvenated version of Varun. He doesn’t get an exaggerated amount of turn, but his balls grip off the deck. That ball to dismiss David Miller just straightened to hit the off-pole, with the batter getting caught in his crease.
Since his lengths are slightly shorter, with a flatter trajectory, they allow the ball to do as much as possible from the surface. No wonder players have been caught playing across the line off his bowling. Liton Das and Marco Jansen have been among the few culprits in the recent past, for both couldn’t handle that extra pace Varun generates off the pitch.
This is not just an ephemeral purple patch he is going through. Varun has earned his spot on the back of two consecutive IPL seasons, snaring 41 wickets at 15 balls per wicket, including a four-wicket haul. He was KKR’s leading wicket-taker in both seasons.
Overall, he had the most wickets among spinners since 2023. His average (20.26) and strike rate (15) were the best among tweakers bowling in at least ten innings. Since his comeback for India, he has two three-wicket hauls and a five-wicket haul.
So, Varun let his frustration known when he was not selected for the Zimbabwe series. “I wish I had a paid PR agency!!!!!!” He wrote on his Instagram account after the squad announcement. But this is where Gautam Gambhir’s appointment helped him.
Gambhir’s maiden white-ball assignment was the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, and he ensured including Varun in the squad. He had previously worked with Varun as Kolkata Knight Riders’ mentor in IPL 2024 and knew his capabilities. Maybe selectors would have continued overlooking him, even after two strong IPL seasons, had Gambhir not taken the head coach role.
As Varun revealed, Gambhir gave him ample confidence to succeed. He assigned him the role of a wicket-taker, which he was already playing for KKR.
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“We played the Bangladesh tour and he (Gambhir) was coaching the team and we spoke a lot, and he gave me a lot of role clarity, He told me even if you go for 30-40 runs, it doesn’t matter. All you have to look for is to pick wickets. So that’s your role in the team.”
And he performed this role precisely. No other Indian bowler has taken as many wickets as Varun (13) since the Bangladesh series. And he has played on some of the flattest decks since his comeback.
The competition among spinners is so intense that Ravi Bishnoi, who was once the No.1 ranked T20I bowler, couldn’t find a spot in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Even a bowler as skilled as Kuldeep Yadav has to fight for a place. That’s because India have so many options, each presenting unique expertise.
So for Varun to find a place, he needed to put on something special, and he did it straightaway. His latest spell against South Africa was one of the finest ever by an Indian spinner, for it had a mix of everything. He went through all of his variations and had plans for each batter.
For instance, he deliberately bowled a leg spin to Heinrich Klaasen to avoid predictability because he was bowling too many googlies. His focus has lately been on taking the ball away from batters. It is another reason behind his immense success in the shortest format despite playing on true batting surfaces.
Despite several questionable calls, Gambhir has made some wise decisions in his short tenure. Including Varun in the T20I setup immediately is among his best. Last time, Varun was dropped unfairly after a sudden inclusion in the T20 World Cup 2021, where he faced challenging conditions, bowling with a wet ball.
Then, he was consistently overlooked despite churning out match-winning performances in the IPL. But the tides are finally in his favour, and he should get proper backing this time because T20 is a fickle format and there will be bad days. But that won’t make him a mediocre bowler, as it was perceived last time.
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