Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 18 : Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy opened up on his comeback to white-ball set-up, saying that he did not have any vision of making a comeback once he was dropped way back in 2021 but he kept motivating himself to get his variations and accuracy right to earn a comeback in the national colours.
Chakravarthy was speaking to Boria Majumdar on Revsportz ahead of the T20I Asia Cup taking place from September 9 onwards and India playing their campaign opener against hosts UAE the next day. Spinner Varun, who has taken 33 wickets in 18 T20Is so far, looks forward to being a crucial addition in the Indian-set-up as he is on a roll since his international cricket return last year, taking two big five-wicket hauls in T20Is and one in ODIs during the ICC Champions Trophy winning campaign too.
Speaking to Boria, he said about his comeback since last year after a disastrous T20 World Cup 2021, "Thank you so much for considering me an important bowler of the setup for the Indian team. It has definitely taken a long time to earn this spot, and as I have mentioned in many other places also that this journey has been long. I did not have a vision as to if I would make a comeback or not once I was dropped from the team, but I kept telling myself that if I get certain variations and accuracy levels, then I will be able to make a comeback into the team."
"That was the only motivating factor, and obviously, I had IPL as the platform to showcase whatever I was learning side by side. I also played a lot on the domestic side, like the Syed Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare Trophy and other tournaments. I used to travel all around India and play, which eventually gave me a lot of confidence. That was the main aspect of my comeback," he added.
Varun admitted that while he was away from the team for three years, he went through a lot of mental health issues and he had no clarity if he will ever make a return.
"The main reason was not having clarity of whether I would ever make a return to the team. The only thing in front of me was IPL and the domestic leagues, and I am definitely grateful for having IPL, because many other cricketers don't have that as well," he continued.
Varun said that a comeback to the Indian side was his goal, and he kept thinking of ways to improve himself.
"After having good IPL seasons, I felt that I should have been in the team, but still, I was not there. So everything made sense when I was picked after a long time for the Bangladesh tour last year. Yes, that phase was challenging, but the only thing I had control over was going to practice at 5:30 in the morning, doing some spot bowling, and then coming back home to hit the gym in the evening. I kept pushing myself, and that is how it worked. Today, I would not regret any of that, because those hard times made me a better person and a better human being," he added.
Varun also said that cricket is evolving very fast and in T20s with the white-ball, one needs to bring out a certain dimension or at least a small variation in once in two years and keep "evolving with proper purpose and skill levels, and not just doing something different for the sake of doing it."
"A few people just try some crazy actions, but in terms of developing a real skill with the ball, it takes a lot of time. Once I was away from the team post-2021, I had many variations in my mind. I had around eight variations, and I wasn't excelling in any of those, so my goal was to excel in those one by one. Right now, if you ask me, I have 3 to 4 balls where I am an 8 on 10. I must keep improving and I do feel that in some time, I might hit my peak ability, but let's see how things go. In cricket, certain things are not in our control, but still I am trying my best to keep evolving," he concluded.