Varun Chakaravarthy – The name itself is enough to envisage a bowler who would befuddle opponents with his box full of tricks. Somewhere, those different variations of Chakaravarthy have been sharpened by better control and bowling smarts. For evidence, just scroll through parts of his spells in the Indian Premier League 2023 and 2024, alongside his successful T20I outings against Bangladesh and South Africa, with him on a comeback trail. His sharpened offerings were further substantiated by his five-for in the just-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Rajasthan.
One of his five victims was the left-handed Kukna Ajay Singh. And that scalp in itself tells you something about how Chakaravarthy has polished the rough edges of his bowling. From round the wicket, and with a high arm action, he extracted bounce and it hit more of the sticker of the bat. All that the batter could do was edge it to the lone slip fielder.
Chakaravarthy’s bowling in that game wasn’t just about bounce. He also seemed to be imparting a bit of side-spin. Both Karthik Sharma and Deepak Hooda went for the big shot, but were done in by a hint of side-spin. The length – around the good-length spot – too was near-perfect to induce the batters into going for the jugular.
More importantly, he mixed up his pace quite well right through his spells and seemed to be adept at consistently landing deliveries around the good-length area. Early on in the innings, Chakaravarthy bowled a few of his deliveries at around 110 kph. But the speeds for most of his wickets came in the range of 88 to 93 kph. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Chakaravarthy currently sits at the top of the wickets table with 18 scalps at an amazing average of under 13.
“The Varun we knew in 2018 is definitely not the Varun who played for Madurai Panthers in 2022,” Sriram Krishnamurthy, one of his coaches, had once told RevSportz. “Back in 2018, he was still trying to figure himself out, but in 2022, he was returning to Madurai not just as an IPL star but someone who has also played for India. To see the growth in that four-period, where he has actually played this game at all these levels. In 2022, he was so good at helping our other bowlers, with subtle field changes.
“I remember an instance where he was talking about how to bowl to Baba Aparajith, and field changes we need to do. Also about Dinesh Karthik, how he sweeps hard and in front of square, and how that could be factored into the bowling plans. The fielder at deep square leg, where he needs to be. It was fascinating to see him share those plans with other bowlers as well. The one-percenters matter for him and that’s why we all like him.”
The selectors too seem to be watching his impressive progress in the one-day format with keen interest. With some uncertainty over Kuldeep Yadav’s fitness, there is a chance that the selectors could end up including Chakaravarthy for the upcoming 50-over Champions Trophy.
So, is there something that could go wrong for Chakaravarthy in the 50-format? There is a suspicion that he doesn’t react well to being smashed around the park, which could be observed in South Africa. In the penultimate T20I of that series versus South Africa, he started to bowl on the shorter side as soon as Henrich Klaasen counter-punched his bowling. His detractors also point out that his fitness is below par and doesn’t contribute much with the bat.
Despite a few flaws, the architect-turned mystery spinner is at the peak of his prowess. This is perhaps the right time to take a punt and select Chakaravarthy in the ODI squad.