Varun Chakravarthy, KKR’s mystery leg break spinner, became the first bowler in IPL 2020 to bag a five-wicket haul on last evening during the match against 2nd placed Delhi Capitals and recalled his journey from being an architect to an IPL overnight sensation. He has several variations up his sleeve and was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2020 to bolster their spin attack which already consists of the spinners Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Chris Green after Pravin Tambe was disqualified.
Varun Chakravarthy became the first bowler to bag a five-wicket haul in IPL 2020 on Saturday as he finished with excellent bowling figures of 5/20 in his four overs to take his tally to 12 wickets in 10 matches and also revealed how he was struggling to make ends meet for himself in 2015.
Varun Chakravarthy Played In 1 Match For KXIP Before Being Injured In 2019
Not many experts and fans were familiar with the name of Varun Chakravarthy until the mystery spinner became an overnight sensation after being roped in for a whopping sum of Rs 8.4 crore by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the player auction ahead of the IPL 2019 as he impressed the then skipper Ravichandran Ashwin after having an impressive season in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) which resulted in high demand at the auction.
However, he had a forgettable IPL 2019 as he managed to play only one game for KXIP before being ruled out due to an injury. He was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) subsequently in the auction last year for Rs. 4 crores and has become a vital member of the Eoin Morgan-led side in the ongoing IPL 2020 where he has been regularly among the wickets after playing ten games so far this season.
Image Credit: IPL
Varun Chakravarthy scripted history as he became the first bowler to bag a five-wicket haul in the ongoing edition of IPL. The mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu derailed the Delhi Capitals (DC) batting line-up in their clash against KKR at Abu Dhabi by picking up crucial wickets of skipper Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel. Delhi Capitals lost last 6 wickets for only 40 runs.
Varun Chakravarthy Turned To Cricket To Do Something Different In 2015
After posting a strong total of 194/6 on the board with the help of opener Nitish Rana’s 81 and comeback-man Sunil Narine’s quickfire 64 off 32 balls, Varun Chakravarthy bagged five wickets to help KKR restrict Delhi Capitals on 135/9 and thus secure a 59-run win for his side. He finished with excellent figures of 5/20 in his 4 overs.
In the post-match presentation, Varun Chakravarthy recalled his journey to becoming an IPL sensation as he revealed how he was struggling to make ends meet in 2015 in his job as an architect which inspired him to turn to cricket instead and there has been no question of looking back.
“Around 2015, When I was not making bucks. I was doing freelancing and I was not able to meet my needs. So I thought I will do something different so that’s how I turned to cricket,” Chakravarthy told commentator Harsha Bhogle when asked when he decided to turn to cricket from being an architect.
Varun Chakravarthy said that he would not quit that job when asked so as he loves architecture and plans to stick around. Varun Chakravarthy had worked for a private firm previously for a couple of years before returning to cricket. There is more to achieve for him on the cricket pitch after bagging a five-wicket haul.