CHENNAI: At the 2021 T20 World Cup, most of India’s top-order batters didn’t turn up. When a few of them belatedly did, they were also-rans in a tournament that promised a lot. Considering it was a World Cup, the management had to identify a few players responsible for the below-par showing. So, they naturally turned to one of the least experienced players at the tournament — Varun Chakravarthy.
Even if Chakvarthy had gone wicketless in the desert — in a tournament eventually dominated by tweakers in the middle overs and a part of the powerplay that went against him — there wasn’t much he could have done. In the three matches he played before he was jettisoned midway through the tournament, he conceded 71 runs in his 11 overs. Not at all disastrous considering two of those games were against Pakistan and New Zealand, when more experienced bowlers had returned worse figures.
With a dip in confidence post that UAE sojourn, the 2022 IPL was a chastening experience. Billed as the mystery spinner, he was not living up to that name. Then, he decided to go back to the basics. The proof of that is available in most of Kolkata’s matches this year. If 2022 was the product of a spinner trying too hard for little to no reward, 2023 is a product of Chakravarthy embracing simplicity.
At Eden Gardens on Monday, the Chakravarthy show was again on display, with his 3/26 off four overs (11 dots), keeping Punjab Kings honest throughout the innings. What’s changed? This year, the speed is back up. As an extension, he’s able to impart more revs on the ball. He’s also more accurate, turning it just enough to challenge both edges.
The wicket of Punjab’s Liam Livingstone is a case in point. After two regulation deliveries, he pitched one on the middle and turned it ever so slightly. Livingstone, looking to hit in the powerplay, was expecting an off-break delivery and played for it. It turned and clipped his pads and was adjudged leg-before, with ball tracking suggesting it was clipping. It’s the sort of sequence of play that shows why the national team (and Kolkata) put their faith in him.
And that accurate line has been a hallmark of his in 2023. Off the 17 wickets, he has claimed, nine have been bowled or lbw. “I have worked more on my accuracy rather than working on different variations,” he had said after his 3/27 against Bangalore in the last week of April. “Another aspect I was working on was revolutions on the ball.” After defending nine in the final over (he conceded only three) against Hyderabad on Thursday, he had said: “Last year, I was bowling around 85 kmph... I realised that once my revolutions go down, my speed goes down. So I worked on my revs and that really helps.”
It was also noted by Anil Kumble, who’s working as a pundit. “He’s a unique bowler,” he had said during one of Chakvarthy’s games. “For a bowler like Varun, the action and speed that he bowls at, if the speed drops, then he’s not effective.”
Brief scores: PBKS 179/7 in 20 ovs (Dhawan 57; Chakravarthy 3/26, Rana 2/33) lost to KKR 182/5 in 20 ovs (Rana 51, Russell 42).