TimesofIndia.com in Dubai: Just a few weeks back, Varun Chakaravarthy was busy tormenting the England batters in the T20I series at home. One variation at a time, the mystery spinner made short work of the opposition as he snared 14 wickets in the five fixtures but not even in his wildest dreams he would have thought about making the ODI squad.
For starters, India’s set-up was overflowing with spin options, who add a lot of depth with their all-round ability, and there was very little sample size to gauge effectiveness of his craft in the longer format.
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Since making his List A debut for Tamil Nadu back in 2018, Varun featured in just 23 games in seven years but recency bias did the trick for him as a successful Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign and the England T20Is forced the Indian think-tank to explore the X-factor route.
Soon came the addition to the ODI squad for the series against England and one outing was enough to convince the men-who-matter to make the change in the provisional Champions Trophy squad. From an option worth exploring to becoming an ace up captain Rohit Sharma’s sleeve in Dubai on Sunday, Varun has had a dream run in the last couple of weeks.

Taking field at the venue where his India journey derailed back in 2021, the flashbacks did weigh him down but the support from senior players allowed him to relax and spin his magic against a formidable New Zealand line-up.
A bowler who was long considered a T20 specialist and not agile enough for the longer grind, Varun responded to his doubters the only way he could – by plucking wickets. Five of them on Champions Trophy debut. The 33-year-old didn’t start against Bangladesh or Pakistan but when he was informed on Saturday, there were butterflies in his stomach but when skill took over, the wickets column saw constant additions.

“The first spell of mine… I was a little nervous because the previous things, the emotions and all were playing whatever happened in the last three (four) years before at this ground. Little bit was playing with me and I was trying to keep it down, control it. But Virat bhai, Rohit and even Hardik, they were telling me to calm down, calm down. They were coming and talking to me. That really helped,” said Varun in the post-match presser.
Having played over 100 T20s for his IPL teams and domestic side, Varun was used to bowling a certain way, keeping the demands of the shortest format in mind, where he would either bowl four on the bounce or much shorter spells. An ODI, however, is a different ball game altogether and requires a bowler to master the art of setting-up batters and planning spells. The art becomes a tad more difficult to perfect when you are a mystery spinner. It was the case with Varun too but List A exposure allowed him the opportunity to sequence his spells much differently and become more aware about the perfect timing of a variation.

“T20 as I mentioned before, my sequencing of balls as in how I construct an over is totally different compared to the 50-over format. And that I was able to figure out when I played the last two years in Vijay Hazare. And it really helped me to understand when I can bowl my incoming delivery or outgoing delivery or the straighter one or the top spin, whatever it is. But that gave me a sense of awareness of when to bowl, it is completely different from what I do in the T20. So, yeah, that took me a lot of playing,” explained Varun.
Right through his spell, Varun operated with a very mature head and even when he was hit for sixes by Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips, he had the last laugh by seeing the back of both batters. The plan was simple – keep attacking the stumps, make judicious use of the variations and let the pitch do the rest.

Varun Chakaravarthy celebrates a wicket during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and New Zealand in Dubai. (PTI)

By his own admission, the support group from the other end consistently sustained pressure which allowed him to attack even more. Patience was going to be key as there is little luxury of time in this format but for late-bloomer Varun, it wasn’t going to be a problem.
“It is the patience game. You just need to wait it out and make – in such slow wickets you don’t get as in a quick, the ball doesn’t turn fast, it turns slow. So, you need to wait it out and it just happens, if it’s your day it happens to you,” says Varun.
With a blockbuster performance in his debut ICC tournament outing, the mystery spinner has created a happy headache for the management ahead of the semis vs Australia on March 4. There will be a strong temptation to persist with Varun and for the spinner it will be an opportunity to create more happy memories at the venue which didn’t give him many few years back.