Tamil Nadu wrist-spinner Varun Chakravarthy finally made his long-anticipated India debut in the opening game of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
An incisive finger-spinner with fantastic variations up his sleeves, Chakravarthy delivered an economical spell on his maiden international outing and also picked up a wicket.
His figures of 1/28 off 4 overs contributed to India’s comfortable 38-run victory as the tourists took a 1-0 lead over the hosts in Colombo.
The day after the game, Chakravarthy expressed his delight at being handed the India cap and jersey and reminisced of his journey to transform into a promising cricketer despite once being a professional architect.
The 29-year-old entered the Indian white-ball set-up late last year when he was selected for the white-ball leg of India’s challenging tour of Australia. However, he sustained a shoulder injury and had to miss the flight to Down Under.
After recovering, the 29-year-old spinner was also picked for the T20I series against England in March this year, but question marks on his fitness after reportedly failing the Yo-Yo test meant that he had to be sidelined again.
Having waited excruciatingly long for his India cap, Chakravarthy ultimately got his chance at the R Premadasa this week.
The IPL 2020 in UAE was a breakthrough season for Chakravarthy, who took 17 wickets from his 13 matches in the tournament for two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders while going for only 6.84 runs per over.
