CHENNAI: It has been a week since the Men in Blue donned the white blazers and lifted the Champions Trophy on a starry Sunday night in Dubai. At the centre of India's march was Varun Chakravarthy, whose success is a redemption story in itself.
The Tamil Nadu spinner, who took nine wickets in three games in the desert, was left out of the Indian side after the early exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup at the same venue. He went back, made a four-year plan and scripted his comeback, one chapter at a time. It started with the 2024 IPL title with Kolkata Knight Riders, a T20I comeback, an ODI debut just before the Champions Trophy and then, of course, playing a big role.
In a freewheeling chat with The New Indian Express, the 33-year-old talks about the CT win, emotions during the winning moment, his comeback journey, and more. For someone who took to cricket professionally only at the age of 26, Varun is just getting started. He has his eyes on the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup and believes that his peak is yet to come. Excerpts...
On his reaction to the winning moment
That was a great moment. No thoughts, my mind was totally blank. I don't even remember what I did when I saw the video where I banged the ball (into the floor). That was the first time I think I let my emotions take over me and I think it is okay because we won the Champions Trophy after a very long season. Everyone deserved it, we all had a good time.
On what this triumph means to him
It feels good to win an ICC trophy, definitely gives a sense of belonging and satisfaction because there are two more important tournaments coming up: the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup. This creates a base for me to prepare well for those tournaments.
On the rollercoaster month and a half
The day before the match (before the New Zealand match) I was told by GG (coach Gautam Gambhir) that I might play 'so just prepare as if you are going to play'. That is all he said. I did my preparations and I did watch a lot of videos of their batters and I was able to pick up a few cues and just worked around that. Playing a lot of domestic matches, Vijay Hazare, that also helped. After the T20 series against England, I was coming back to Chennai. But on the day of leaving, they told me that I am on the ODI squad and after the ODI series in Ahmedabad they told me that you are coming to Dubai, that is how it panned out. Maybe they didn't tell me beforehand and it all happened in the heat of the moment, it all worked out for me. I don't know what worked out but nothing to complain about.
On being back in Dubai and winning it there
In 2021, when I played the match (the Pakistan match), I felt I bowled well but the match didn't go our way and I could not pick any wickets. Naturally, if you do not contribute much you will be dropped that is very understandable but also I understood personally that I had to change something about my bowling, I had to make a shift from side spin to over spin and it took me about three years. It was a three-four year plan and as I mentioned, I devised a plan for four years. Craft wise, I feel that I am still a seven on ten, and I think to reach my own rating of 8.5-9 on ten it will take another 3-4 months, by that time I feel I should be more well prepared and better equipped for the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup. This has been the last four years of travel for me after the T20 World Cup. That plan is still not over, another four to six months left. Let's see where it takes me.
On the role of support staff with the Indian team
With Gambhir, he tries to impart that never say die attitude and take the game head on. For a coach to have such aggressive intent feels very refreshing. Abhishek Nayar is my mentor from long before in many aspects of my life apart from cricket also. He has played a huge role in my life. Morne Morkel, I got to work with him this time more and in CT, he gave a few tips which were helpful. What I would say is this staff deserved this CT win because of what they had to go through before this in Australia and against New Zealand. Both were a little harsh on them, the critics were a little harsh on them is what I felt, but the way they came back with this CT speaks a lot about them and they deserved it.
On his journey as an international cricketer
I am into my early 30s now, but the fact is I started cricket only when I was 26. So if you see my cricketing time it is around six and a half years and I have still not hit my peak. I feel that I will hit my peak in another six months max, after that I feel I might be more effective wherever I play. That is the general perception (that an athlete's peak is in their late 20s) what you are talking about, but perceptions are there to be broken, so I feel I still have a good 10-12 years of cricket in me. I know that I am just starting right now, and have a long way to go.