Third time ‘lucky’ Varun Chakravarthy is out to leave an impression on deserved debut

Varun Chakravarthy’s career has been a rather unique one, it was only at the age of 26 when the mystery spinner had announced his existence with his bowling, that caught the batsmen in a spell. 

But there came the crash, in the clash against his current side Kolkata Knight Riders on his debut, he went for 35 runs with the ball, picking up just a solitary wicket in the outing. Since that, a finger injury had ruled him out of the competition, which then subsequently started the tumble of his career. An architect, who brilliantly had started to craft himself a career in cricket, had just faced his first big block, a block that has often put an end to several bowlers’ careers - injury. 

Sport is often cruel, you would have to spend years and years, putting in efforts at every level to make the cut and one injury could leave you back in dry. The mystery spinner was yet another athlete, who was caught in the crossroads, having suffered the wrath of injury. While no franchise had dared to take the leap, especially considering that he had not played any form of cricket since his injury, he had a magnitude task, in front of him, to start it all over again. 

Cut to July 2021, having been picked in the India squad for the series against Sri Lanka, the mystery spinner has to go through the rigour all over again - starting it fresh. However, this time, not just based on his efforts in the Tamil Nadu Premier League or his stint with Kings XI Punjab but it was driven by his efforts for the Kolkata Knight Riders, where he emerged as a premier spinner for the country. 

Varun Chakravarthy’s mark in the IPL was brutally cut short his first impression in the national team setup, his consistent worry with fitness was something that had held him back, more than his abilities on the field. And for once, he knew that his career in cricket, especially his dream of playing for India would solely only depend on him and he needed to get his act together, with him expected to play a key role in the Indian squad that was named to take on Sri Lanka.

India, who flew with a countless number of leg-spinners, spinners who would take the ball away from the right-handers, needed someone to hold the fort, with his uncanny abilities at the other end. Yuzvendra Chahal’s abilities were fading, Kuldeep Yadav has been on the verge of breaking down in the past two years and more importantly, Krunal Pandya is in the setup, merely for his batting abilities. So this provides the talented Tamil Nadu spinner with a unique opportunity - to set things right, to tell the entire world that he deserved the luck, third time albeit. 

His 25 IPL wickets were not a fluke, his opportunities in the Indian team were not just lucky and more importantly, his body ideally, not so weak and timid. If he had entered as the second spinner in the 2020 edition of the IPL, he had walked out of it as one of the best in the competition. But behind the scenes, more important than his average, strike rate, economy rate or even the list of wickets, was would he find himself back in the best shape possible? 

“In Varun’s case, we trained at Thane’s Dadoji Konddev stadium and at Parsee Gymkhana in South Mumbai. One has to look at the player’s past history and frame curated programmes. Most of the progress is made in the off-season,” said KKR’s assistant bowling coach, Omkar Salvi to Hindustan Times. 

If he entered the 2021 edition as one of the best, he turned his game up a notch, bowling regularly in the death overs, without conceding too many runs. If he is indeed entering the Sri Lanka series as one of the best talents, he has an opportunity to come away as the best, he has succumbed under the pressure in the past but now, he has a unique opportunity to thrive under the limelight.