Fresh off winning the Asia Cup with India, Varun Chakaravarthy on Tuesday was all praises for head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying that Gautam Gambhir had instilled a Spartan mentality in the team which leaves no room for mediocrity and where losing is not an option.Ever since making a comeback with a performance of 3/31 against Bangladesh in October 2024, spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has not taken a backward step. In 24 T20Is, he has now taken his tally to 40 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.90.
Once considered a forgotten name in Indian cricket, Varun Chakaravarthy’s resurgence has been remarkable. After spending nearly three years out of the national setup between 2021 and 2024, the 34-year-old made a strong comeback under Gambhir’s guidance and captain Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership
Varun Chakaravarthy – A key component of Indian success in Asia Cup 2025
The mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has gone from strength to strength in his last three tournaments to emerge as a potent spin weapon for India in T20 internationals, forming a deadly partnership with Kuldeep Yadav. In four games in South Africa he finished with a 12-wicket haul including a spell of 5/14; in five games versus England he returned with 14 scalps in 5 games including a spell of 5/24. In the recently held Asia Cup, he claimed seven wickets in six games at an economy rate of 6.50.
In the final played last Sunday, he turned the match around by claiming the wickets of both the well-set Pakistan openers, Sahibzada Farhan who scored 57 runs (38 balls) and Fakhar Zaman who made 46 (35 balls) for figures of 2/30 in four overs. From 84/0, Pakistan collapsed to 146 all out with India’s spinners sharing eight of the 10 wickets.
After making his international debut in 2021, Varun’s initial stint was far from ideal, taking just two wickets in six matches. However, he worked tirelessly on his game during his absence from the national side. His breakthrough came in late 2024, when he returned for India’s T20I squad and played a pivotal role in their Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year.
He finished the tournament with nine wickets at an average of 15.11, including a five-wicket haul (5/42), the joint-second highest in the competition behind New Zealand’s Matt Henry.
India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has credited head coach Gautam Gambhir for transforming the mindset of the national team, saying the former opener has introduced a “Spartan mentality” that leaves “no room for mediocrity or losing.”
Varun Chakaravarthy Lauds Gautam Gambhir’s Winning Mindset ahead of Australia tour 2025
Unarguably one of the pillars of India’s T20I team, Varun Chakaravarthy played a pivotal role in their triumph at the recently-concluded Asia Cup 2025. Varun, a mystery spinner, has worked with head coach Gautam Gambhir for a long time. The two were together as player and mentor when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the 2024 season.
With Gambhir as his coach in the Indian national team, Varun enjoyed success in the Asia Cup, becoming a key wicket-taker in the bowling unit. However, the player is yet to take his career beyond the shortest format, with chances in ODI cricket being limited while Tests aren’t even in sight.
Answering a query by NDTV on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday, Chakaravarthy spoke about the conversations he had with coach Gambhir about his ODI career. During the chat, Chakaravarthy revealed that Gambhir has advised him to bat higher in the batting order while playing domestic tournaments, and also try to bowl longer spells.
It is clear to all oppositions what they will be up against in the 2026 T20 World Cup to be co-hosted in India and Sri Lanka as the Suryakumar Yadav-led side will look to build on their spin strength led by the pair of Kuldeep and Chakaravarthy. The conditions in the subcontinent during the World Cup will be similar to the Dubai International Stadium where India played most of their Asia Cup matches – slow pitches aiding spin.
“If you see the pitches in Dubai, they have worked well towards me, even in the Champions Trophy I did well there, so they are a little on the slower side, so that kind of helps me more and…
Other than that, my role was to just keep on attacking the stumps and keep on challenging the batsmen to hit me for a six or something, take an aggressive option against me so that I can take a wicket, that was the basic plan,” said Chakaravarthy on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards on Tuesday.
Varun Chakaravarthy hoped the spin duo would have the same impact at the 2026 World Cup.
“Kuldeep is definitely one of the most experienced bowlers right now in the pool of players that we have and he has done amazingly well and we kind of complement each other because I bowl at the speeds of 95 km per hour and he bowls around 85 km per hour, so we kind of complement each other and he has more revs and more turn,
I have more speed and bounce, so till now it’s been working well for us. Hopefully, we can do the same thing that we have been doing in the World Cup also,” Varun Chakaravarthy said.
Varun Chakaravarthy had a tough time when he first played for India in 2021. He lost his place in the side after the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, going wicketless in three games. Making a comeback after three years, in 2024, he has looked a much improved bowler. That Gautam Gambhir is the current India coach has also helped the 34-year-old Varun Chakaravarthy settle down.
From his time at Kolkata Knight Riders, Gambhir had helped bring the best out of Chakaravarthy and knows what the mystery spinner has to offer.Talking about Gambhir’s style of functioning, he said the coach doesn’t tolerate mediocrity, referring to him as a Spartan:
“I have already worked with him (Gambhir) in the IPL and we won that IPL (2024), so nothing new to me because I have already been around him. But definitely one thing which I can say about him is he brings a Spartan mentality to the team where there is no option of losing, you just have to bring your best and give everything on the ground and later on, whatever happens, happens.
But when he is around, there is no mediocrity, you can’t be mediocre in the field, that’s what I feel.”
“When I made my comeback again, Surya (captain Suryakumar Yadav) and GG (Gambhir), they spoke to me and they told me that we are looking at you as one of the wicket takers for the Indian team. And they have backed me throughout. For that, I have to give them the credit. Because I was out of the team for more than three years, but I did have a consecutive good IPL. For them to recognise that and bring me in the team was great for me.”
With so much data available, and the analysts doing heavy research in decoding the strengths of the opposition players, it can be a challenge to keep your mystery intact. There is a risk of bowlers losing their effectiveness once the batters figure out their variations. Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis is a case in point who started with a bang against India in the 2008 Test series (26 wickets in 3 Tests) but after two seasons was not the same force.
Varun Chakravarthy said his ability to bowl with the same action is what makes him difficult to pick for the batters.
”It’s just that I have the ability to bowl all the deliveries with the same grip and same release point. That’s what is making others find it tough to pick me.
“It just depends on the sequence of balls. Am I going to bowl two leg spin and one googly or two googlys and one leg spin? So that’s the only thing I can change. Other than that I can’t change much. It just goes three ways. Left, right or straight. It just depends on me when I want to take it on the other side.” he concluded.
Although named in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming Australia tour, Varun Chakaravarthy was omitted from the ODI setup. He revealed that the decision was part of a long-term development plan laid out by Gambhir. Team India’s white-ball tour of Australia will begin with the three ODIs on October 19. They will play five T20Is following the ODI series.
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