The perplexed look on Will Young’s face as Varun Chakravarthy cleaned him up probably said it all. The New Zealand opener wasn’t looking too comfortable against the spinner in the first place during the last group-phase game of this Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday. And when Varun turned one into Young to send him back, the New Zealander’s clueless expression provided a hint into the harrowing time in store for his teammates.
In his first appearance in the competition, and only his second ODI game, 33-year-old Varun bowled a spell — 10-0-42-5 — that was massive not just in context of Sunday’s game, but also for India’s XI for the semi-final against Australia on Tuesday.
Make no mistake, the Dubai pitch will aid spinners even if it isn’t as sluggish as that of Sunday. So, the fifer against the Black Caps aside, even the scope of exerting pressure on and strangling game-changers like Travis Head, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell with an extra dose of spin calls for Varun’s inclusion in India’s XI.
“The batters from teams like Australia, New Zealand and England still tend to read the ball off the pitch, not from the spinners’ hands. That will always hand Varun an advantage,” Sunil Subramanian, former India manager and an ex-left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu, told The Telegraph on Monday.
Australia captain Smith believes his team’s prospects will rely a fair bit on how they fare against Varun and the other Indian spinners in the middle overs. Smith’s analysis is correct as Varun has shown he can strike in the middle overs too, while his spin colleagues are quite capable of checking the flow of runs at the other end.
“With his accuracy, Varun is building pressure on the batters, bowling more and
more dot balls... A lot more overspin in his bowling now and back-of-the-hand stuff,” Subramanian, who featured in 74 first-class and 28 List A matches, said.
Playing alongside the talismanic Ravichandran Ashwin at Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League has certainly been a boon for Varun. Besides, back-to-back Vijay Hazare Trophy campaigns last year and in 2023 proved equally beneficial for the Kolkata Knight Riders bowler, who used to be viewed as a T20 specialist.
Particularly, in terms of making the required adjustments in the 50-over format and planning his deliveries. “My sequencing of balls, as in how I construct an over, is totally different compared to the 50-over format. And that I was able to figure out when I played the last two years in Vijay Hazare.
“It really helped me understand when I could bowl my incoming or outgoing delivery, the straighter one or the top spin. That also gave me a sense of awareness of what to bowl when... It’s completely different from what I do in T20,” Varun explained.
Nineteen wickets from eight matches in the 2023 edition of Vijay Hazare and 18 from six last year are a testament to his 50-over potential. As for his sequencing of deliveries, it’s about reading the batsmen and choosing his variations accordingly, depending on the pitch too.
The Black Caps bungled. Will Australia be able to solve the Varun mystery if he plays on Tuesday?