The 31-year-old began out as a wicketkeeper-batter, ditched the game to pursue structure, returned later as a seam-bowling allrounder and at last zeroed in on spin bowling.
He was taking part in fourth-division cricket in Chennai in 2018 when he was known as up as a web bowler for the Chennai Super Kings. Five years later, he mixed with Kolkata Knight Riders’ team-mate Sunil Narine to outspin CSK at their very own den on Sunday.
Over the years, Varun’s profession has been something however easy, with accidents and technical points resulting in a topsy-turvy trip in worldwide and franchise cricket. This features a wicketless run within the 2021 T20 World Cup for India.
He additionally went out of favour within the Kolkata Knight Riders setup in 2022, proper after being the main wicket-taker for them the earlier season. He has come again strongly this yr, choosing up 19 wickets in 13 video games to this point.
What has made the distinction? Experts say it’s his newly developed legbreak, and Varun agrees. “Yes, I’ve been working on my leg-spin. Last season, I used to bowl cross-seam leg-spin, but it was not gripping that much, so I thought of mixing up the seam one and the cross-seam one. It’s creating more doubt for the batters,” he stated after the KKR win at Chepauk on Sunday.
KKR’s teaching workers brainstormed with Varun after the disappointing season and got here up with a plan based mostly on how groups have been prone to goal him.
“There is a stark difference in how he’s using his deliveries now. He’s using the leg-break a lot more than he was doing last year,” assistant coach Abhishek Nayar stated.
Once they analysed and understood the areas the place groups have been hitting him, it was simpler to plan a method.
“We spoke about getting more rotations on the ball and getting more bounce and speed off the pitch,” Nayar added.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming has all the time rated Varun extremely and regrets not with the ability to get him from the auctions.
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“It still hurts us. He tortured our batters in the nets for a number of years, but with the auction and the way it is, we couldn’t get him,” he stated.
With the Tamil Nadu cricketers taking part in for various IPL franchises, Fleming added, “They knew about him as well and we were unable to keep him a secret. But we were very excited for him as a talent when he bowled against us in the nets and he went for a big price that first year.”
The former Kiwi skipper acknowledged the important thing function Varun performed in Sunday’s win.
“He went off a little bit and now he has come back. He had some injuries and now he looks fit.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com