Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy discussed his relationship with veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. He also clarified why captain Rohit Sharma commented that he doesn’t bowl many variations to the Indian batsmen during net practice.
Ashwin and Chakravarthy were teammates at Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2024. Before India’s last group match against New Zealand, Ashwin predicted that Chakravarthy would replace Harshit Rana in the team, which turned out to be accurate.
After leading India to a 44-run victory with his impressive figures of 5 wickets for 42 runs against New Zealand, the 33-year-old spoke about his bond with Ashwin.
He mentioned in a press conference that he has spoken to Ashwin during their time at TNPL, as they play for the same team. He added that he has conversations with him and that Ashwin has been a supporter.
Regarding Rohit’s earlier statement before India’s tournament opener against Bangladesh, where Rohit mentioned that Chakravarthy doesn’t ‘bowl a lot of variations’ in the nets, Chakravarthy provided an explanation. Rohit had said that Chakravarthy ‘bowls only one kind of variety’ to them.
Chakravarthy explained the Indian captain’s statement, saying, ‘But in T20, I plan my over differently. The sequence of different balls is different. And in ODI, it is different. So that’s why they don’t feel that I bowl all the variations, but I do bowl all the variations.’
Before his magical performance that secured India’s victory, Chakravarthy revealed he felt ‘nervous’ due to past experiences. In the T20 World Cup 2021, Chakravarthy was included in India’s squad but didn’t perform well.
He was able to overcome his past anxieties with the support of senior players Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Hardik Pandya, who consistently encouraged him to remain calm throughout his bowling spell.
‘And yes, of course, in my first spell, I was a bit nervous because previous experiences, emotions, and everything that happened in the last three years on this ground were playing in my mind. I was trying to control it. But Virat bhai, Rohit, and even Hardik, they were telling me to calm down, calm down. They came and talked to me. That really helped,’ he said.
Topics mentioned in this article: India Cricket Team, New Zealand Cricket Team, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rohit Sharma, ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Cricket
