IPL 2020 | Focused a lot on bowling in powerplay, plenty to learn from Narine, reveals Varun Chakravarthy

Much to the surprise of many, India's star spinner Kuldeep Yadav was dropped from the KKR side in their last encounter against Delhi Capitals, with Tamil Nadu spinner Varun Chakravarthy preferred instead. Though he had a poor game on paper, conceding 49 runs in four overs, his figures were largely ruined by his final over, and he did pick up the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan on a flat Sharjah wicket considered to be a graveyard for bowlers.

Not only that, the right-handed spinner was very good in the games preceding the Sharjah one against DC as he had ended with figures of 1-25 and 2-25 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals respectively, scalping big fishes like David Warner and Rahul Tewatia. 

Varun talked about how he tried to improve his fitness and also focussed on doing well in the Powerplay overs in the lead up to the IPL 2020. 

"There were two key aspects I laid emphasis on in the last few months. I focused a lot on bowling in the powerplay as they are a crucial aspect in this format of the game. To top that, I have worked hard on my fitness. Getting to train at the KKR academy and also play a few matches at the DY Patil tournament was a big confidence booster for me," Varun told TOI.

After having a poor IPL debut game last year which saw him finish with figures of 1 for 35 against Kolkata Knight Riders, he was ruled out of the entire edition due to a finger injury, while a shoulder injury kept him out of the rest of the domestic season. Thankfully for him, KKR bought him for Rs 4 crore in IPL auctions. Varun revealed he was looking forward to learn from Sunil Narine, who is one of the greatest mystery spinners of all time.

"There is so much to learn from him as he has been immensely successful over the years for KKR. It will be a great experience watching him from close quarters," he had said.