Varun Chakravarthy's life has all the basics of a solid biopic. His journey from wannabe cricketer to architect to IPL star to India international to being out of the team for three years… The next part - the redemption - is turning out to be just as intriguing.
Since making a comeback to the Indian team, Varun has completely flipped the narrative. In his first six T20Is, he had managed just two wickets; in his next five, he has 13 at an average of 8.84 and a strike rate 9.2. On Sunday, he added another must-read chapter to his story as he ripped through the South Africa batting to pick up a career-best 5 for 17, almost taking India to an unlikely win - on his son's second birthday, no less.
When Varun came on to bowl in the sixth over in Gqeberha, South Africa were 33 for 1, more than a decent start for a team chasing 125. It took him two balls to change the equation. Aiden Markram, who has endured a woeful run of form in T20Is this year, missed a googly and saw the top of his off stump pegged back. It began a sequence of 19 balls that South Africa struggled to find answers to.
He breached the defences of three more batters, all with well-disguised wrong'uns, and had Heinrich Klaasen, arguably South Africa's best player of spin, caught playing an attacking shot for the second time in as many games. On a surface that had pace, bounce and carry, Varun had the South Africa batters in a tangle with turn. It was hardly massive turn, far from it, but just enough to beat the bat.
What stood out was his accuracy. He's always had the variations, but here he was also very tight with his lines. According to ESPNcricinfo's logs, 50% of the balls he bowled would have hit the stumps, and he fetched four wickets with those. He kept the ball on a length and thereabouts, bringing his subtle variations into play.
Varun also varied his pace well. The ball to dismiss Reeza Hendricks pitched and skidded on to smash into middle and leg. To Klaasen, he slowed down his pace, baiting the batter into going for a big shot.
By the time Varun was done, South Africa's target of 125 felt a fair distance away. It was not enough for India to eke out a win, but he gave South Africa plenty to ponder.
But what's changed in the three years that Varun was out of the Indian side?
"I had to go to the drawing board and check out all my videos and what I figured out was that I was bowling side-spin, and it was not working out in the higher level, so I had to change everything about my bowling," Varun told the host broadcaster after the game. "It took me two years and I started bowling that in the local leagues, TNPL, Syed Mushtaq Ali [Trophy], Vijay Hazare [Trophy] and IPL also. It worked out there, so I've started bowling it in the international stage and it's working out for me."
His new choice, overspin, Varun says has helped him get more bite from surfaces. It's also assisted him in getting a lot more dip, which was visible in a lot of the dismissals on Sunday. Varun admits being out of the international scene for three years was tough, but it has also helped him hone his craft better.
"The only thing I could do [through the tough period] was play lots of cricket," he said. "I started playing a lot of the domestic leagues in India and that definitely helped me understand my game better and that's what helped me."
Varun's international return has come on the back of two stellar IPL seasons where he picked a combined 41 wickets in 28 innings for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He also worked with Gautam Gambhir, the current India head coach who was the mentor of KKR in IPL 2024.
"We played the Bangladesh tour and he [Gambhir] was coaching the team and we spoke a lot and he gave me a lot of role clarity," Varun said. "He told me even if you go for 30, 40 runs, it doesn't matter. All you have to look is to pick wickets. So that's your role in the team.
"More than confidence, I would say I'm more focusing towards clarity and that's helping me more right now. Sometimes I feel confidence can lead me to a wrong direction and can make me believe that I can do something which is impossible. So I feel focusing on clarity is better. I've focused on that more."
Varun 2.0 is different in one other way: the celebrations. He barely broke into a smile earlier. But on Sunday, there was the odd fist pump, and there was a bit more vigour to the high-fives.
The redemption chapter is off to a strong start. He probably still needs a few more consistent numbers to make a strong case in India's full-strength T20I side, but such performances are likely to make him stay in contention.