Varun Chakaravarthy

'Mystery’ is a word that always brings a sense of excitement with it. In cricket, too, mystery bowlers over the years have brought with them a sense of excitement and thrill among the cricketing fraternity. The same excitement was seen in Indian cricketing circles when Varun Chakaravarthy started making inroads in Indian domestic cricket as a mystery spinner.

Varun started his cricket journey as a wicketkeeper batter but left cricket to concentrate on his studies in college. He completed the Architecture degree and started working as a freelance Architect. During this time, Varun was playing tennis-ball cricket and eventually, at the age of 25, he decided to quit his job to pursue a career as a professional cricketer.

Varun Chakaravarthy then joined CromBest Cricket Club as a seam-bowling all-rounder, but a knee injury forced him to eventually become a spinner. The move turned out to be a masterstroke as he started making all the right noises as a mystery spinner in 2017-18 when he picked 31 wickets in seven games in a one-day competition for Jubilee Cricket Club. Playing in the fourth division of the Chennai League, Varun started working on his variations and slowly started moving up through the ranks of Tamil Nadu Cricket.

He came into the spotlight during the 2018 Tamil Nadu T20 League as he played a major role in Madurai clinching the title that year. It turned out to be a breakthrough season for the him as Varun got an opportunity to bowl as a net bowler for the Chennai and Kolkata franchise in the Indian T20 League.

Chakaravarthy finally caught the eyes of Tamil Nadu selectors and made his List A debut for the state team in the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He was the leading wicket-taker for Tamil Nadu that season as he picked 22 wickets in 9 games. He also made his first-class debut against Hyderabad in the 2018-19 season of the Ranji Trophy.

Ahead of the 2019 season of the Indian T20 League, Varun Chakaravarthy was bought by Punjab and he made his debut against Kolkata in the 2019 edition of the tournament. He had a worst possible start as he was hammered for 25 runs in his first over.

Varun though was still rated highly and was selected by Kolkata for the 2020 edition of the IPL. He straightaway made an impact and picked 17 wickets in the tournament and was so impressive that he received his maiden India call-up for the Australia tour in the same year. He was later ruled out due to an injury but was selected again for the England series, only to be left out due to fitness concerns.

Varun Chakaravarthy finally made his T20I debut for India against Sri Lanka in 2021, and he was later included in the Indian squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, 2021 on the back of another successful Indian T20 League season where he picked 18 wickets.

Varun came into the marquee event with high hopes but his performance was below-par, and he went wicket-less in three games he played. India crashed out of the World Cup in the Super 12 stage, and Varun Chakaravarthy was also left out of the Indian squad. The 2022 season of the Indian T20 League also did not go according to the plans as the promising spinner picked only 6 wickets in the 11 games he played.

Varun Chakaravarthy is a rare breed in world cricket and even rarer in India. If he can work on his fitness and produce his best more consistently, he can be an asset for whichever team he represents.