Varun Chakaravarthy Persuades Rohit and Gambhir He'll be a Valuable Asset; India Coach and Captain Contemplate Deploying Him Against Australia

Chakravarthy, overlooked in favor of senior spinner R Ashwin, had a disappointing tournament as he failed to make an impact for India. Despite three opportunities at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, he was unable to take a single wicket. Conceding 71 runs in 11 overs against Pakistan, New Zealand, and Scotland, he soon found himself out of favor with the national selectors. India's early exit from the tournament mirrored Chakravarthy's struggles on the field.

Chakravarthy had an easily available option ahead of him. An architect by education, he could have gone back to his original love, but he is nothing if not a fighter. Aware that he needed to rediscover himself, Chakravarthy hit the nets with a vengeance. He realised that what he considered his greatest asset, sidespin, wasn’t quite the way to go, so he focused on overspin. He worked relentlessly on his craft, using an inquisitive mind used to problem-solving as his ally. Hey, shades of Ashwin there?

His tireless toil was bound to bear fruit. A tepid 2022 season that brought him only six wickets in 11 games for Kolkata Knight Riders was followed by 20 wickets in 2023 and 21 last year, when KKR won a third title, a decade after their second triumph. To show that there was more to him than just T20 incisiveness, he was the joint highest-wicket taker in the inter-state 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2023-24 with 19 sticks, which he backed up with 18 wickets in just six games a year later, finishing only behind Arshdeep Singh (20).

Reward wasn’t long in coming. Nearly three years after that Dubai misadventure, Chakravarthy was drafted back into the Indian T20 side, for a home series against Bangladesh last September. In the last 12 T20Is since his India comeback, he has amassed 31 scalps; 14 came in five games against England alone in January-February, earning him a maiden One-Day International call-up against the same opponents.

Despite modest returns of one for 54 in his only appearance in Cuttack, he convinced Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir that he would be a valuable asset on the slow, somewhat spin-friendly and well-worn pitches likely to be on offer at the Champions Trophy. Consequently, just before the official deadline to announce the final 15, he replaced reserve opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, though he had to wait until Sunday, against New Zealand, for his first match of the competition.

Varun Chakravarthy architects his redemption arc in Dubai

The wait was more than worth it. At the same ground where he had gone without a wicket against the Kiwis in October 2021, the leg-spinner who has shed his mystery for variety and consistency picked up five for 42 in a wonderful exhibition of controlled wrist-spin. Even as Kuldeep Yadav, the more experienced wristie, took tap, Chakravarthy ran rings around New Zealand’s middle order, among the most accomplished in playing the turning ball, bringing all his variations into play.

Among those are a mean googly and a recently developed cross-seam faster one that can zero in on batters at more than 110 kmph. The former accounted for pesky opener Will Young, the latter clattered into Mitchell Santner’s off-stump, beating him for pace, when the skipper was threatening to take the fight to India. All in all, a great night out for the 33-year-old, who has now sparked a ‘happy headache’ – really? What is that? – for the think-tank.

While Chakravarthy’s faith in overspin, which fetches him greater bounce than before, is unwavering, his accuracy has gone up a few notches. That, allied with his variations in pace – from the mid-70 kmphs to the early 110s – single him out as a particularly dangerous bowler. He has done nothing wrong to warrant exclusion for Tuesday’s semifinal against Australia, but what do India do? Do they retain their four-spinner combination for the knockout game? Or, if they want to bring Harshit Rana’s pace back, will they be tempted to stick with Chakravarthy at the expense of Kuldeep, who has had a passable tournament but nothing more?

Australia haven’t played Chakravarthy previously, though several of their batters have come up against him in the IPL. He is an obvious wicket-taker and a proven match-winner internationally in the last six months, propelled by three five-wicket hauls in the two limited-overs formats. It will take a brave man – or two – to bench him.

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