IND vs BAN: Varun Chakravarthy earns second chance to prove his worth for India

India vs Bangladesh: Varun Chakravarthy has made a remarkable return to the Indian T20I team for the series against Bangladesh. The 33-year-old mystery spinner's journey back into the squad is a story of perseverance and determination.

In Short

• Varun Chakravarthy was picked in the India squad for T20I series
• The star KKR spinner made his India comeback after 3 years
• The mystery spinner has played 6 T20Is for India till now

"That's how life is; it is unfair. It was very hard on me," he said earlier this year. Varun Chakravarthy was not in the scheme of things as far as finding a place in the Indian T20I team was concerned. After India's dismal show in the T20 World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the spinner struggled to break back into the national team, especially with the emergence of Ravi Bishnoi, and other young spinners.

Chakravarthy was reported to be suffering from injuries after which he went out of contention. He wasn't someone who burst onto the scene as a teenager. Rather, he was a late bloomer. He started taking baby steps when he was 28 and made his Indian Premier League debut for the Punjab Kings after toiling hard in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.

And it was his stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2020 that helped him find a place in India's T20I team. That he picked up a five-wicket haul against Delhi Capitals that season helped his cause. But he found the going tough in internationals, picking up only two wickets from six matches at an average of 66, striking at 67.50.

VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY FINDS HIS WAY BACK

Aged 33, it did not seem that Varun would get another chance, but he did. The tweaker had to strain every sinew to make the national selectors think. He has never been a domestic giant and it's mostly in the IPL where he has performed. Chakravarthy used the T20 platform to good effect, which paved the way for his return to the Indian national team.

KKR could not advance to the playoffs in 2023, but Chakravarthy made the batters sweat by taking 20 wickets. He carried on from where he left off last year and made an impact for the Knights in IPL 2024 as well. This time around, his efforts did not go in vain as KKR ended their 10-year-long wait for lifting an IPL title since they won in 2014.

Chakravarthy picked up 21 wickets from 14 games at an economy rate of 8.04. He made the ball talk on pitches where teams scored over 200 on a regular basis and batters smashed sixes at will. On September 28, Varun's name showed up when BCCI named India's T20I squad for the three-match series against Bangladesh.

PARTHIV LAUDS VARUN

After Varun earned his place back, former wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel said that the off-spinner got the rewards of the hard yards he has put in. "That selection was also surprising because they went in after looking how he did, mostly in Sharjah, a wicket that was turning square. But, all the matches that India played in that World Cup were in Dubai. So, that was the reason why he was picked," Parthiv said.

"Here, I think he has been rewarded for what he has done in the last couple of years on a difficult Kolkata wicket. It's not been as spin-friendly or as dusty as it has been in the past. But, yeah, good to see guys who are performing well are getting rewarded," Parthiv said.

In 2021, Varun couldn't quite make use of the limited chances he got. Well into the second-half of his career, it goes without saying that if he can't grab his chances with both hands, it might well pull the curtains down on his international career once and for. It's now or never.