Varun Chakraborty - Here we go again! After missing out on selection for the T20I leg of the Australia tour and the home series against England due to fitness issues, the mystery spinner has been drawn to make his international debut once more. With the T20I series in Sri Lanka being India's last before the T20 World Cup, it will be Chakraborty's first and perhaps last chance to stake a claim for the tournament to be held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17 to November 14.
The last time Chakraborty was in the UAE, he married his variations to emerge as Kolkata Knight Riders' highest wicket-taker, hitting 17 strikes in 13 matches at an economy rate of 6.84. The national selectors were so impressed that they immediately named him in the T20I squad.
Chakraborty has taken a roller-coaster ride ever since.
He saw his Tamil Nadu teammate T Natarajan take his place in the T20I side and make a big splash in Australia. He met his idol actor Vijay and married his girlfriend Neha while he was away from sports. He then went to rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, but was not deemed fit enough for selection for the T20Is against England. It was time to prove he was no one-season IPL wonder, the powerplays, to bowl the middle overs, as well as earlier this year - with or without Sunil Narine. IPL 2021 was later postponed after he was among those who tested positive for Covid-19.
While Chakraborty has recovered and continues to upgrade his skills - according to Knight Riders spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe, he is working on adding seven changes to his now with Manchester Originals for the Hundred - There may still be a question mark on his fitness
Reacting to Chakraborty failing the fitness test ahead of the England T20I, Virat Kohli had insisted that fitness cannot be "compromised" in this Indian set-up. There is an ideology - which Crowe believes - that players like Chakraborty who come from non-professional backgrounds may be given some leeway.
"In the modern age of sports, especially cricket, it's very fitness driven. You could argue that it's on the line on fitness and I could be in that camp," Crowe told ESPNcricinfo. “Cricket is a skill sport, but fitness is important for maximizing performance, longevity and resisting injuries and for many reasons. When you have someone with a high skill level who brings up Varun – he has different colors. Is - it doesn't make up for extra fitness if you look at how he has bowled in the last two IPLs... I think it was a game in Sharjah where he played the last IPL on a small ground and a flat wicket , he had scored 24-25 runs in his four overs.This time also he dismissed Virat very early against RCB.
"My view is - I'm not in charge of the BCCI to ask them to do anything - if you have a cricketer who comes from a low-base background and when he doesn't have the support for fitness in his formative years, Guess you slack off a bit until you see an improvement in fitness level.
"I don't think Varun has ever given much on the field. You don't want too many fielders in hot spots who can't field there, he wasn't there; he often fields at 45 and probably fines spinners Leg to seamer. There was no error that you could have put down for fitness. You are bowling four overs, fielding 16 overs and he can catch a bat down the order, so for me anything like that Which suggests that he is probably below the level of acceptance for fitness. Also, if the team is trying to instill a culture of fitness, it is difficult to bring in a player who doesn't meet the standards. But my So as long as the player works incredibly hard on fitness and keeps improving and has that skill level, I want to see a little more leniency."
Among Chakraborty's unique skills is the carrom ball, which he takes out with his ring finger, while others throw variations with the middle finger. According to Crowe, he also has the ability to gather pace on pitches that are not that fast, which puts him in the company of the best T20 spinners.
"I can't say for sure what's more difficult to pick up than a standard carrom ball delivered from the middle finger, but what I think, it does, is that it's watching batsmen around the world and guessing. That's what's happening next," Crowe says. “I think I know he is working on at least one more delivery. Once the batsman is better able to face the carrom ball with the middle finger, he has to be ready now and the carrom from the ring finger Will have to adapt to face the ball. Ultimately what matters is whether the ball is spinning to the left, right, or over or underspin and obviously there are varying degrees of it. How you do it as an individual depend on you.
"Collecting the pace off the pitch for me is what separates the best spinners from the rest. [batsmen] have less time to adapt and then it spins quickly with the bat. It can look good on TV - That ball breaks the pitch - but if it doesn't gather momentum, good players will be able to adapt and play with spin. If you look at the pace at which the best T20 spinners bowl - Rashid [Khan ], like Naren and Varun - they are pushing closer to 100k and rolling the ball both ways."
Crowe, who oversees the progress of spinners in various leagues around the world, also believes that the presence of a mysterious spinner in a global tournament like the World Cup could potentially give India a distinct advantage over other teams.
"In my experience in IPL, Indian players - they play mystery spin and any kind of spin best and foreign players don't play too much. Some of them Jos Buttler plays them well individually but not across the board Foreign players are not as skilled against mystery spin," he says. "You think of a World Cup, where non-Indian players play against a mystery spinner... It can be some sleepless nights for the batsmen, trying to see how the ball goes. Ghoom rahi hai (laughs). I am really excited to see that. He plays and it [playing for India] means a lot to him.
"I meet a lot of youngsters who approach me through my social media: 'Sir, I want to be given a chance or just play here' and I always come back to Varun. I would say I'm that this is the man you've got. Follow and dreams can come true. You play street cricket, bowl net somewhere and watch - it's a story for all of us to learn and be inspired by."
India's spin attack is already in the hands of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya but they don't have the X-factor that Chakraborty can bring to the table. If he can pass the test in Sri Lanka, and add another chapter to his fascinating story, who knows what could happen.