Varun Chakravarthy featured in an international game 3 long years after the T20 World Cup in the UAE. He saw a “rebirth” after contributing significantly to India’s decisive seven-wicket victory in Sunday’s first T20 International against Bangladesh in Gwalior. “After three long years and… it was definitely emotional for me, and it feels nice to be back in the Blues, it feels like a rebirth,” he told Murali Kartik on the official broadcast after the game.
“There have been many [challenges]. Once you are not in the Indian side, people tend to write you off very easily. You need to stay at the highest level, again and again, you need to keep knocking on the door. Thankfully, this time it happened and hopefully, I can keep continuing my good work.”
India schooled Bangladesh in the 1st T20I. Mayank Yadav grabbed everyone’s attention. With his 3 for 14, Arshdeep Singh won Player-of-the-Match. Hardik after his brilliant spell with the ball, was on fire with the bat as well. Chakravarthy on the other hand did exactly what he would have thought of, taking 3 crucial wickets.
Varun has had a really successful year. IPL 2024 was won by his club, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). With 21 wickets from 14 innings, he was the second-highest wicket-taker for the squad overall. In August, Dindigul Dragons won the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). Varun finished with a 2 for 26 in the final. With 12 wickets in the tournament, he tied Sandeep Warrier for the team record and was tied for fifth place overall.
“After IPL, I played a few tournaments and one of those was the TNPL. It’s a very good tournament, and high standard [of cricket] also,” Varun said. “That’s a place where I worked a lot, with Ash bhai [Ashwin]. We also won the competition, and that gave me confidence here because it was good preparation for me for this series.
“I just want to stick to the process because that’s what I have been following in the IPL also. So I don’t want to go over and beyond what’s there right now. I just want to stay in the present. That’s why I don’t want to think too much or express too much.”
Varun was brought into the attack in the fifth over. At deep square-leg, Towhid Hridoy swept him in the air with his second delivery, heading straight for rookie Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy raced forward to make the catch, but he lost the ball in the lights and allowed it to go for four. Using his skills to confuse the batters, Varun got Hridoy in his next over and then Jaker Ali and Rishad Hossain, although he wasn’t happy about the drop.
