How 'clarity' transformed Varun Chakravarthy into a force to be reckoned with

Varun Chakravarthy (Pic: AFP)

In the successful redemption arc of mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy, 'clarity' has played a key role in his rise to the stars.

Once a forgotten star, who found himself at the bottom of the pecking order for the last three years, has grabbed the opportunity with both hands since the dawn came in Indian cricket.

Varun's debut didn't kick off on an ideal note, with just two wickets in six matches, it seemed as if he had his swansong in the international circuit.

But, in three years he completely flipped the narrative, with 13 scalps in his next five games, averaging 8.84 and a strike rate of 9.2.

On Sunday, when India fell in Gqeberha, Varun added a must-read chapter in his career after picking up his career-best figures of 5/17 in his four-over spell.

When skipper Suryakumar Yadav handed him the ball to bowl the sixth over, South Africa's score stood at 33/1. He varied his pace in the final over of the powerplay and got the breakthrough with a googly to pick up Reeza Hendricks's scalp while giving away just two runs.

He continued to hit the right lengths, extracted most out of the surface and made South African batters perish in front of his spin mastery.

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Varun's mystery continued to haunt South Africa with Marco Jansen (7), Heinrich Klaasen (2) and David Miller (0) melting away in front of Varun's stroke of genius.

But the question arises, what changed for Varun in those three years when he bid his due time on the sidelines?

"I had to go to the drawing board and check out all my videos and what I figured out was that I was bowling side-spin, and it was not working out in the higher level, so I had to change everything about my bowling," Varun told the host broadcaster after the game.

"It took me two years and I started bowling that in the local leagues, TNPL, Syed Mushtaq Ali [Trophy], Vijay Hazare [Trophy] and IPL also. It worked out there, so I've started bowling it on the international stage and it's working out for me," he added.

To understand his game better, Varun needed more time and the only way to achieve it was playing more cricket.

"The only thing I could do [through the tough period] was play lots of cricket," he said. "I started playing a lot of the domestic leagues in India and that definitely helped me understand my game better and that's what helped me," Varun noted.

Varun returned to the international setup on the back of two successful stints with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL). Across both seasons, he scythed 41 wickets in 28 innings for the Knights.

In IPL 2024, when the Knights lifted the title for the third consecutive time, Varun closely worked with the India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who then held the position of KKR's team mentor.

"We played the Bangladesh tour and he [Gambhir] was coaching the team and we spoke a lot and he gave me a lot of role clarity. He told me even if you go for 30, 40 runs, it doesn't matter. All you have to look is to pick wickets. So that's your role in the team," Varun said.

"More than confidence, I would say I'm more focusing towards clarity and that's helping me more right now. Sometimes I feel confidence can lead me to a wrong direction and can make me believe that I can do something which is impossible. So I feel focusing on clarity is better. I've focused on that more," he added.

A new chapter will unfold in Varun's redemption arc in the third T20I against South Africa on Wednesday in Centurion.

(With agency inputs)