He took nine wickets in just three games during the Champions Trophy 2025.
India found a new wrecker-in-chief in Varun Chakravarthy during the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2025. The Men in Blue defeated New Zealand earlier this month in Dubai, securing their third title win after 12 years. He took nine wickets in just three games, finishing as the joint second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament, behind only the injured Kiwi Matt Henry.
Shortly after, the 33-year-old expressed interest in the longest format of the game.
While speaking in a podcast with Gobinath on his YouTube channel, Varun also explained how his style of bowling may not be suitable for red-ball cricket.
He said, “I do (have an interest in Test cricket), but my bowling style doesn’t suit Test cricket. Mine is almost like medium pace. In Test cricket, you’ve to continuously bowl 20-30 overs. I can’t do that in my bowling. Since I bowl quick, the maximum I can bowl is 10-15 overs which is not suited for red ball. I am focusing on 20 overs and 50 overs white ball cricket for now.”
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While particularly talking about his bowling style, the Tamil Nadu cricketer feels relieved to have changed from a pacer to a spinner.
Varun began his journey as a wicketkeeper before transitioning to fast bowling during his college days. However, an injury forced him to switch to spin bowling, a decision that ultimately paved the way for his India debut.
Thus, when asked if he had any regrets about switching his method, he denied it.
“No. That’s why I am here. I would’ve been stuck there had I bowled pace. There are so many pacers. Also, it doesn’t swing in Tamil Nadu wickets. They are spin-friendly wickets. So you can’t see many fast bowlers from Tamil Nadu. It is very rare. There is Balaji and Natarajan but there are many pacers in other states. I am happy that I left fast bowling. Even (Ravichandran) Ashwin became a spinner after leaving fast bowling. So I am happy,” Varun expressed.
The spinner will soon don the purple and gold outfit of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). After his debut 2019 season with Punjab Kings, Varun has been a familiar addition to the KKR set-up.
The defending champions will kick off the tournament at Eden Gardens on March 22 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
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