Varun Chakravarthy, a spinner who performed extraordinarily in the debut season for Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday said it is an honour to be mentored by former Indian legendary batsman Rahul Dravid known fondly as The Wall for his defence during his cricketing years at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
The 29-year-old spinner was the highest wicket-taker for Kolkata Knight Riders as he clinched 17 scalps in 13 games averaging 20.94 at an economy rate of 6.84. He played only 1 match previously where he picked 1 wicket representing Kings XI Punjab in 2019.
Varun Chakravarthy Excelled For Kolkata Knight Riders In IPL 2020
On 24 October 2020, he took his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL 2020, returning with figures of 5 wickets for 20 runs, against runners-up Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi. However, on 9th November 2020 after being named in India’s T20I squad on 26th October, he was ruled out of the squad and replaced by pacer T Natarajan after suffering the shoulder injury.
With the "GREAT WALL OF INDIA".
It's an honour to be mentored by Rahul sir?????…
The caption on the wall says it all..???? pic.twitter.com/Qtpiaj1QTZ— Varun Chakaravarthy (@chakaravarthy29) December 5, 2020
The 29-year-old Karnataka bowler who played in only 1 first-class and 9 List A games was picked in the T20I squad for India’s tour of Australia, but a shoulder injury forced him to miss the series.
He was included in the T20I side after a successful IPL season with the ball where he was 9th among leading wicket-takers in just his second IPL season.
Varun Chakravarthy Will Complete Rehabilitation Process Under Rahul Dravid
Varun Chakravarthy will now complete his rehabilitation process under NCA head Rahul Dravid. Rahul Dravid who represented India from 1996 to 2012 was one of the few players to score 10,000 runs in both ODIs and Tests. He became the first player in the world to score a century in all the ten Test-playing countries in 2004.
Ex India captain Rahul Dravid was appointed as Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on July 8, 2019. He was supposed to take over as NCA head starting from July 1, but his job as a vice-president at India Cements caused the inevitable delay.
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) asked him to relinquish his post or be on leave until his tenure is completed. India Cements then sent him on leave to avoid conflict of interest as advised by CoA.