How Varun Chakravarthy fooled David Miller in his continuous pursuit to reinvent his bowling and career | Cricket News

On Sunday, on the first delivery he faced in the second T20I, David Miller lunged into a forward defence he believed the line of the ball was covered. Sitting in the dugout, he had already seen Varun Chakravarthy’s googlies take out three of his teammates. Miller perhaps expected nothing different. And hence prepared to play the line hoping even if it was a wrong’un it would only miss the edge and the stumps. And if it comes in with the round-the-stumps angle, he had the line covered. But a fraction later, Miller would hear the sound of the ball hitting the timber. A puzzled look ensued. The anticipated turn-away or the inward-angler had never occurred. Instead it had fractionally straightened after pitching to peg back the off stump and Varun had his maiden five-wicket haul in T20Is.
AC Pratheepan, who has been mentoring Varun over the years, says the straightener is the latest mystery that the 33-year-old has added to his bowling. “The one that straightens after coming in with the angle is something he has worked on a number of times over the last year or so,” Pratheepan tells The Indian Express.

A maiden 5 wicket haul for India’s new spin sensation! 😍
Take a bow, Varun Chakaravarthy 🙌
Watch the exciting 2nd #SAvIND T20I LIVE on #JioCinema, #Sports18 & #ColorsCineplex 👈#JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/t5hpMC6OAJ
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 10, 2024
And it was a need of the hour as well. At the IPL, Varun has seen the pitches being extremely on the flatter side, especially at Eden Gardens which is the home venue for Kolkata Knight Riders. With not much turn on offer, Varun had to find an alternative and that would keep him in the game. “He wanted one that pitches on the off-stump line and straightens. He wanted it to go with the angle, but it isn’t easy,” says Pratheepan who was recently named as batting coach of WPL side UP Warriorz.
Pratheepan explains why it is hard for Varun to execute. “You need to put everything into the ball – the force and the momentum has to be aligned. Once that is there, your body weight, momentum and force must be put into the ball so that it gets maximum revs and gets some purchase of the pitch,” he says.
These days Varun relies a lot on over-spin rather than side-spin. “Earlier, when he went back to his run-up, he would be thinking which variations to use. Now he has made it simple: one that goes out, one that comes in and one that straightens. With this he will bring in other aspects of the bowling. He has become very methodological. It is now down to accuracy, efficiency, revolution and drift,” Pratheepan says.
And the decision not to indulge in over-zealous variations has meant that the carrom-ball which made Varun the mystery spinner, is slowly disappearing. From being a stock delivery it has become one that he rarely uses now.

Hitting the stumps for fun! 😉
Varun Chakaravarthy’s wizardry continues to dent the Proteas! 🙌
Watch the exciting 2nd #SAvIND T20I LIVE on #JioCinema, #Sports18 & #ColorsCineplex 👈#JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/loMGqcsPTA
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 10, 2024
“We wanted to be like a conventional leg-spinner, which is why he relies more on over-spin. With over-spin he will get more deviation off the surface and at the same time, there will be good bounce as well, which isn’t the case with side-spin,” Pratheepan adds.
Before being recalled for the T20Is against Bangladesh, Varun had spent three years in India wilderness. In 2021 despite not having a bad outing, Varun had paid the price for the lack of intent from the batsmen in the 2021 T20 World Cup. The IPL that followed was perhaps the lowest of lows as he had just 6 wickets to show from 11 matches. The mystery appeared to be decoded.
But one constant in Varun’s life has been his ability to bounce back from adversities. He took up cricket wanting to be a wicketkeeper and when it didn’t happen, he pursued a degree in architecture. Then he worked as an assant director in the hope of becoming a filmmaker. In 2017 when he went back to his roots, he saw his under-construction site being swallowed floods. He tried everything while still continuing to bowl medium-pace in tennis ball cricket – a primary reason why he has a long run-up — and TNPL proved to be a game changer.
And since his comeback to the national fold, he now has 13 wickets in five matches against Bangladesh and South Africa. Even now the TNPL has become the place where Varun’s artry takes shape. Guru Kedarnath, the bowling coach at Dindigul Dragons, a side that Varun represents calls him meticulous. In a side that has R Ashwin as well that should speak volumes of Varun’s preparations.
“He is a very thinking bowler and it showed the moment he moved to overspin,” Kedarnath, who is also the bowling coach of Tamil Nadu Ranji team says. “With the air speed he bowls, because of the overspin and coupled with his height that generates bounce, his deliveries are hitting the top of a batsman’s bat. When that happens, invariably the batsman is in trouble as he will not get the dance. That extra bounce is a lethal force,” Kedarnath says.

Chakara-WORTHY ✨
A beautiful ball to get the wicket of Hendricks 🤩
Watch the exciting 2nd #SAvIND T20I LIVE on #JioCinema, #Sports18 & #ColorsCineplex 👈#JioCinemaSports #VarunChakaravarthy pic.twitter.com/enOb7E33NM
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 10, 2024
And there is another aspect that stands out with Varun. At the IPL, opposition teams have gone on the defensive when fronting up to Rashid Khans and Sunil Narines and going after the rest keeping wickets in hand. With Varun it hasn’t happened and Kedarnath attributes it to his versatility.
“Like those two, Varun also attacks the stumps, but because of his varying speed plus the changed mindset, the bounce he gets, other modes of dismissals also come into play. It is not just the LBW and the stumps he is targeting,” he says.

After his three-wicket spell at Durban in the first T20I, Varun recalled the moment on Instagram post with this gem: “it felt like a Illayaraja song,” with the famous composer’s ‘Punnagai Mannan’ movie’s theme song playing in the background. Punnagai Mannan, incidentally means, the smiling king. Just like that score and the movie name, Varun is making quite an impression these days.