CHENNAI: Varun Chakravarthy will remember what happened on November 5, 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium. Fast-tracked into the Indian team, Varun had played all three matches in the 2021 T20 World Cup, but as they faced an early exit, the spinner was also dropped from the set-up.
About 1,213 days on, Varun was back at the same venue, playing in an ICC event for India. This time, however, he was not the villain. Instead, Varun rose to the occasion and became the hero, taking a five-wicket haul — his first in the format — as India beat New Zealand by 44 runs to finish on top of Group A. They will play Australia in the first semifinal at the same venue on Tuesday.
While it might seem like a straightforward comeback story, there is more to it. In fact, Varun was not even in the preliminary Champions Trophy squad India had named in January.
Varun — while going back to the drawing table after being dropped in 2021, taking his time working on his craft — slowly made his mark yet again in the shortest format. And he persisted and showed consistency, especially for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, playing a crucial part in the title win last year. Soon, a comeback in the T20I format followed, but the ODI debut didn't happen. If there was a chance of him going to Dubai for the CT, the ideal scenario at the time was to have him in the squad for the three ODIs against England at home. However, he was named only in the T20I side.
Varun had been one of the most consistent spinners in the Vijay Hazare Trophy over the past couple of years, finishing second on the wickets tally on both occasions. Truth be told, he was on the radar of the selectors as they were at the venue watching him go about his business. And yet, when he was not named in the ODI squad against England, it seemed like Varun had to wait for his chance.
What did he do? Ran through England in every chance he got in the T20I series. So much so that he was added for the three ODIs at the last minute. With Varun, the question was never about his skills or ability to take wickets, but about how he copes with the strain of the 50-over format at the highest level.
The moment Varun showed that he could hold his own, adding to the fact that India were playing on slowish surfaces in Dubai, it was a no-brainer to add him to the Champions Trophy squad. Even then, getting a game was not straightforward. This is a team that already fields Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in the playing XI regularly. Unless one gets injured/rested or India decides to go with four spinners, Varun was not going to play.
And so he patiently waited not wasting most of his tricks in the nets. It is something captain Rohit Sharma spoke about ahead of the tournament. "If he's got a certain weapon that he wants to just put it out there when it actually matters, I'm more than happy if he wants to do that. But he's got something different which is why he is here with us – whatever I have seen of him in the past 8-9 months, has been extremely impressive. So that is why we wanted to bring him here and see what he has," Sharma said at the time.
When the time came, Varun did just that. He started by beating the defences of Will Young and then even as New Zealand tried to build a partnership, Varun persisted. The reward came when he trapped Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell one after another. By the time he was done (5/42), Varun had secured India a dominating win against their nemesis at global events.
While it was his first ODI at an ICC event, Varun has shown enough for India to retain him on the Dubai pitches in the knockouts. And come the semifinal against Australia on Tuesday, Sharma would be hoping that Varun would use the intended weapon to get them across the line.
