Ind vs Ban, 1st T20I – Varun Chakravarthy calls successful return to international cricket a ‘rebirth’

“There were many [challenges]. If you are not on the Indian side, people tend to write you off easily. You need to stay on top, again and again you need to keep knocking on the door. Thank you, this time it happened and I hope I can continue my good work.”

And now this international comeback.

“After the IPL, I played a few tournaments and one of them was the TNPL. It’s a very good tournament, and it’s at a high level. [of cricket] again,” said Varun. “That’s where I’ve worked the most, with Ash bye [Ashwin]. We also won the competition, and that gave me confidence here, because it was a good preparation for me in this series.

“I want to stick to this plan because that’s what I’ve been following in the IPL. So I don’t want to go beyond what’s there now. I want to stay in the present. That’s why I don’t want to think too much or talk too much.”

On Sunday, Varun was introduced in the fifth over. On his second delivery, Towhid Hridoy swept it in the air towards debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy at deep square leg; Reddy ran forward to catch but lost the ball at the lights and let it go for four. Varun got Hridoy in his next over, then Jaker Ali and Rishad Hossain, fooling the batsmen with his bag of tricks, but he wasn’t happy about falling.

He wouldn’t say it, though.

“I thought it might have gone my way, but I can’t complain,” he said. “But, yes, thank God.”