Varun Chakravarthy plots World Cup revenge on Pakistan with new variation

New Delhi: Spinner Varun Chakravarthy has dropped a hint that he is close to unveiling yet another ‘mystery’ variation, that too in the match against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday.

Varun has reasons to want to settle scores with Pakistan.



Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan took Varun on and dismantled his reputation on a dual-paced pitch in Dubai in the 2021 T20 World Cup. That was the night Pakistan registered their only win over India in World Cups across formats. The match night effectively crushed India’s campaign and placed Varun’s international career in cold storage for three years.

“I’ve been working on a few things but that has been my process all along. I always have some delivery coming up. It’s all up to me. If I’m courageous enough, I’ll try it in the next match,” Varun said.

Varun walked out of the park on that Oct night in 2021 with the greatest learning about his own bowling — the need for more revolutions on the ball and zip off the pitch. Every drill, session and variation has been directed towards that end since.

The most visible addition to his bowling has been the odd, longer follow through.

“I worked on my follow-through so that I could get more zip off the pitch. I’ve worked on my over-spin rather than side-spin and more speed and zip off the pitch,” Varun said.

Varun was tight-lipped about his plans but did mention that he would try to flight the ball more on a sluggish Lankan with big boundaries at the Premadasa on Sunday night.


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