How Varun Chakravarthy is at forefront of India’s T20 evolution

Geo Super (TNT2)

How Varun Chakravarthy is at forefront of India’s T20 evolution

The spinner’s coach details his evolution, how he plots his dismissals and sequences the 24 balls in a T20 game.

“Sometimes when he talks, you will think he is stupid,” Varun Chakravarthy’s mentor AC Pratheepan tells The Indian Express. “Stupid because nobody will think like him. He is sequencing each and every ball. If you ask him, he can list out how he is going to deliver the 24 balls he has to bowl. Of course, it will change depending on who the batsman is, but he has it sequenced. He now very well understands which delivery to bowl when and more importantly what length,” Pratheepan adds.

That in nutshell captures the evolution of Varun and the reason he has had a stellar 2024, and now is at the forefront of India taking its T20 game to an unchartered territory. Or in other words, India 2.0 isn’t possible without Varun 2.0.

On January 1, while recalling what a splendid year 2024 had been for him, Varun had posted AR Rahman’s “Chinna Chinna Aasai” (Choti si aasha song) on his instagram and ended with these lines: “Nalla irupom!! Nalla irupom!! Ellarum nalla irupom!! (We will be fine! We will be fine!! All of us will be fine!!).
There was every reason for Varun to believe so. After spending more than two years in the wilderness after the 2021 T20 World Cup, the second-half of 2024 had truly belonged to the architect engineer from. As he showed at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, he is at the forefront of India taking its T20 game to an uncharted territory.Varun 2.0 is totally a different version of his old self, one who broke into the system by playing tennis ball cricket. From being a spinner who relied mostly on carrom ball, he has evolved into a one who rarely uses them these days. From relying heavily on side-spin he has switched to bowling over-spin, because it is giving him more turn and bounce – two elements that are bound to test any batsmen even if they swing their bats wildly with all velocity.