Kamal Ghorui
CHENNAI: For Varun Chakravarthy, the T20 World Cup triumph must have felt bittersweet. The mystery spinner, tipped to be India’s X-factor bowler, wasn’t quite at his best. Even though he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 14 scalps, his economy rate of 9.25 was a little high by his own excellent standards.It was significantly higher than his career economy rate of 7.55, and Varun acknowledged after the triumph that the conditions were challenging for him.
“These are super batter-friendly wickets, so it was a little challenging for me. But on the other hand, I was able to pick up wickets here and there, which was crucial for my side,” Varun said, adding that the World Cup triumph was the most memorable moment of his career.While it was not alarming by any stretch of the imagination, the fact that his economy rates in the virtual quarterfinal, semifinal and final were 10, 16 and 13 respectively could push Varun into some soul-searching ahead of the IPL, where he plays for Kolkata Knight Riders.With Kuldeep Yadav waiting in the wings and other wrist-spinners like Zeeshan Ansari and Ravi Bishnoi also in contention, Varun will be keen to rediscover his best form as India begin gearing up for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.Harbhajan Singh, one of India’s finest off-spinners, believes Varun will bounce back stronger.“First things first, he is a champion bowler. I first saw him at the Chennai Super Kings nets in 2018 where he was a practice bowler. I told the CSK management to pick him straight away — which they didn’t — because even then he was often unplayable in the nets,” Bhajji told TOI.
Harbhajan felt that one thing that troubled Varun in this World Cup was the way batters handled him off the back foot.“Normally, Varun gets batters out for fun when they try shots off the back foot. But in this World Cup he has gone for runs and that might be because he erred slightly in length,” Harbhajan said.Though labelled a mystery spinner, Varun generally attacks the stumps because his legbreak does not turn much. There were suggestions during the tournament that batters were reading him a little better. Bhajji, however, dismissed that theory.“In modern-day cricket there are no mysteries. When it comes to top players, people often know what the next ball will be. Everyone knew Dale Steyn’s best delivery was the outswinger, but did that make him easy to face? It’s a battle of execution between the batter and the bowler. If the bowler gets it right, he will be successful,” said the off-spinner with 711 international wickets.During the World Cup, as batters tried to attack Varun more aggressively, the spinner sometimes drifted away from his strengths. Sunil Gavaskar pointed out during commentary that when put under pressure, Varun tended to bowl a little too fast, making him resemble a medium-pacer.There was a phase in Anil Kumble’s career when something similar happened, but the legendary leg-spinner dealt with it quickly. Harbhajan noted that Kumble’s biggest strength was his ability to avoid self-doubt.“Anil bhai’s height allowed him to extract bounce, and his biggest plus was that he could bowl all day at the same spot. That’s a rare quality. Varun can certainly refer to the Kumble playbook,” Bhajji said.He suggested that practising with a single stump could help improve accuracy.“That was something I used to do a lot and it helped me,” added the off-spinner, who won four IPL titles with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.While Varun’s biggest weapon remains his googly, Harbhajan believes it would help if the KKR spinner worked more on the delivery that moves away from right-handers.“Variation is important. If he gets that delivery right, batters won’t be able to premeditate against him. Varun will get some time now and can try these things in the IPL. I know he is mentally strong and I have full faith that he will continue to play a key role in India’s quest for more T20 success,” Bhajji said.That would be good news for India, because a fully firing Varun Chakravarthy adds a completely different dimension to the bowling attack.
