Ind vs Ban, 1st T20I - Varun Chakravarthy calls successful return to international cricket 'a rebirth'

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Mayank Yadav attracted the eyeballs. Arshdeep Singh took the Player-of-the-Match award for his 3 for 14. Hardik Pandya kept the Bangladesh batters quiet but was deafening with the bat. For Varun Chakravarthy, meanwhile, it was a “rebirth” as he played a big part in India’s crushing seven-wicket win in the first T20I in Gwalior on Sunday. He was back playing for India after November 2021, after all, and 3 for 31 wasn’t shabby at all.

“After three long years and… it was definitely emotional for me, and it feels nice to be back in the Blues, it feels like a rebirth,” he told Murali Kartik on the official broadcast after the game.

“There have been many [challenges]. Once you are not in the Indian side, people tend to write you off very easily. You need to stay in the highest level, again and again you need to keep knocking the door. Thankfully, this time it happened and hopefully I can keep continuing my good work.”

It’s been a year of great success for Varun. His team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), won IPL 2024. He finished as the team’s highest wicket-taker, and second-highest overall, with 21 wickets from 14 innings. That ended in May. In August, Dindigul Dragons won the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). His team, again, though captain R Ashwin is the face of the set-up. Varun got 2 for 26 in the final. And was joint-highest for his team with Sandeep Warrier at 12 wickets for the tournament, fifth-highest overall.

And now this international comeback.

“After IPL, I played a few tournaments and one of those was the TNPL. It’s a very good tournament, and high standard [of cricket] also,” Varun said. “That’s a place where I worked a lot, with Ash bhai [Ashwin]. We won the competition also, and that gave me the confidence here, because it was good preparation for me for this series.

“I just want to stick to the process because that’s what I have been following in the IPL also. So I don’t want to go over and beyond what’s there right now. I just want to stay in the present. That’s why I don’t want to think too much or express too much.”

On Sunday, Varun was introduced in the fifth over. Off his second delivery, Towhid Hridoy swept him in the air in the direction of debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy at deep square-leg; Reddy ran forward for the catch but lost the ball in the lights and let it go for four. Varun got Hridoy in his next over, and then Jaker Ali and Rishad Hossain, fooling the batters with his bag of tricks, but wasn’t happy about the drop.

He wasn’t going to say it, though.

“I thought it could have gone my way, but I can’t complain,” he said. “But, yeah, thankful to god.”

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