Varun Chakravarthy’s Second Act: Why India’s Mystery Scientist Still Believes He’s Only Halfway Through His Career

India’s Varun Chakaravarthy (Image: IANS) NEW DELHI: For a cricketer who made his international debut at 29, Varun Chakravarthy measures time differently.Now 35, he has just endured a roller-coaster year: a World T20 title on home soil where he finished as India’s highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets, an IPL campaign played out through hairline fractures in his left arm and leg, and then the first muscle injury of his career that forced him to rehabilitate for weeks.Still, ask him where he is on his journey and his answer is surprisingly uncomplicated.“At this stage of my career, I still feel I’m in the first half of my career because I started cricket very late. So I still feel there’s a long way to go,” Chakaravarthy said in an interaction with TimesofIndia.com facilitated by equipment maker ASICS.It’s an outlook that perhaps explains Chakravarthy’s unconventional rise better than any statistic. Tamil Nadu spinning has never been one for grand statements or five-year plans. In a sport as volatile as T20 cricket, he prefers chasing the next little improvement over the next milestone.Now fully recovered from a Grade 2 left hamstring injury suffered during England’s T20I series, Chakravarthy returns just in time for a busy stretch: three T20Is against Afghanistan, a historic one-off international against Japan and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, where defending champions India start straight from the quarter-finals.

Learning a new kind of injury

Until this summer, pain always came the same way for Chakravarthy, through collision, impact or bad luck.A torn muscle was uncharted territory.“This is actually my first ever muscle injury. So all my injuries were impact injuries and other accidents that happened on the field. The expertise at CoE helped me and the people helped me gain my confidence. Every single person that worked there helped me,” he explained.Recovery meant long days at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru, where rebuilding confidence became as important as rebuilding strength. Even the rehabilitation was relentless.“I definitely spent a lot of time out there and ran a lot and did a lot of weight training, which helped me.For a pitcher whose craft depends on rhythm as much as deception, a comeback isn’t just about being medically fit. It’s about trusting the body enough to express the imagination that makes it so hard to read.“Yes, it will take some time to get the confidence. But once you get the confidence, you start to be more expressive and that’s the way it is,” the 35-year-old mused.Instead of viewing injury layoffs as wasted time, Chakravarthy sees them as opportunities to work on parts of the game that the competition rarely allows.“When you’re away, you can start honing your skills. You can improve, which you don’t have much time to do when you’re playing non-stop.”

Why shoes matter more than mystery

Mystery spin is often associated with wrists, fingers and release points. Chakravarthy starts somewhere completely different: the feet.His partnership with ASICS may be commercial, but his relationship with the brand precedes endorsement. He says he already put on the boots around 2022 before formally signing the deal in January 2026.He reveals more how he clinically breaks down the footwear.“For a bowler, boots are the biggest piece of equipment they can have. Batters have a lot of other equipment, but for a bowler, it’s just boots,” Varun said.“As a spinner, your feet start to widen a bit because they start to change shape as soon as you turn because spinners have to turn more after landing. So wide shoes in the toe area that’s very important,” he added.Add a supportive heel and lighter weight, he says, and you have the basics of a spinner’s toolkit.It’s the kind of detail that reflects Chakravarthy’s evolution from architect to elite cricketer: analytical, process-driven and always looking for marginal gains.

Curiosity beyond cricket

The Asian Games, which begin on September 19, offer something that even ICC events cannot — a sports village shared with athletes from dozens of disciplines. For Chakravarthy, this may be the biggest draw.“It’s my first time in Japan. I’ve never been to Japan and also no games. So all I’ve played are ICC tournaments and ACC tournaments,” Chakravarthy said, his excitement quite evident in his voice.“I’m really looking forward to meeting other athletes as well from other different sports and all that stuff.”“I want to see how a 100m athlete prepares, how a badminton professional prepares,” he continued.In India’s increasingly busy cricket calendar, opportunities for cross-pollination are rare. The Asian Games provide a window into sporting cultures that cricketers rarely experience.This openness can be useful on the field as well. The pitches at the Korogi Sports Park are expected to be different from familiar Indian surfaces and Chakravarthy believes adaptability will determine the success of the bowling attack more than pre-set plans.