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Tamil Nadu’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been in sublime form of late. He was one of the vital cogs in the wheel as India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai. After his recent ODI success, the only format left for Chakravarthy to perform is Test cricket. However, despite Ravichandran Ashwin announcing his retirement, Chakravarthy has no ambitions to play the longest format of the cricket.
Chakravarthy pointed out that his style of bowling is different. He won’t be able to bowl any more than 20 overs in a day’s play. In Test cricket, longer spells are needed and Chakravarthy feels that he is currently focused on limited-overs cricket.
“I do (have an interest in Test cricket), but my bowling style doesn’t suit Test cricket,” while speaking in a podcast with Gobinath on his YouTube channel, Varun said. “Mine is almost like medium pace. In Test cricket, you’ve to continuously bowl 20-30 overs. I can’t do that in my bowling. Since I bowl quick, the maximum I can bowl is 10-15 overs which is not suited for red ball. I am focusing on 20 overs and 50 overs white ball cricket for now,” he added.
Chakravarthy claimed five wickets on his Champions Trophy 2025 debut. He dismissed Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner with a delivery that clocked 115 kmph. Then, he bagged two wickets each against Australia in semifinal and against New Zealand in the final.
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Before Chakravarthy became a mystery spinner, he was a medium pacer. The 33-year-old is happy to have converted to a spinner as Tamil Nadu does not offer much swing. He also noted that there have been only few fast bowlers from the stage. who have played for India.
“No. That’s why I am here. I would’ve been stuck there had I bowled pace. There are so many pacers. Also, it doesn’t swing in Tamil Nadu wickets. They are spin-friendly wickets. So you can’t see many fast bowlers from Tamil Nadu. It is very rare. There is Balaji and Natarajan but there are many pacers in other states. I am happy that I left fast bowling. Even (Ravichandran) Ashwin became a spinner after leaving fast bowling. So I am happy,” he said.
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Chakravarthy played his first and only first-class match in 2018. In the Ranji Trophy clash against Hyderabad, he bowled 39 overs including eight maidens, conceded 105 runs and took a wicket. The game ended in a draw as Tamil Nadu’s Abhinav Mukund and Narayan Jagadeeshan scored centuries in reply to Hyderabad captain’s Akshath Reddy’s 250.
