IPL 2020: Even when I left cricket, cricket didn’t leave me

Architect-turned-cricketer Varun Chakravarthy spoke about his love for cricket and how he always tried to find similarities between both professions. In fact, he also elaborated the way in which he brought certain elements of the game into architecture.

In a video posted on Kolkata Knight Riders’ official Instagram page, Varun Chakravarthy said his love for cricket remained, even though he had stopped playing and was pursuing a five-year professional course in architecture from SRM College in Chennai.

“Somewhere in my concept of any design in a building I used to bring cricket in. Architecture is all about lines and angles. Even bowling is all about lines, lengths, angles of what you are bowling. So somewhere, I was able to connect it. Even my thesis, my fifth-year thesis, was a cricket stadium,” Varun Chakravarthy said.

However, he went back to playing league cricket. A product of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Varun Chakravarthy helped the Siachem Madurai Panthers win TNPL 2018.

Even though he picked up just 9 wickets in the tournament, his economy rate and dot ball percentage of 4.7 and 52.08 respectively earned him accolades from all quarters. He was even Tamil Nadu’s highest wicket-taker in the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, scalping 22 wickets in 9 matches.

It was like a movie: Varun Chakravarthy on being bought by KXIP

Varun Chakravarthy helped the Siechem Madurai Panthers win TNPL 2018. Image Credits: New Indian Express

All these performances helped Varun Chakravarthy become an overnight sensation in the IPL player auction that December.

Kings XI Punjab warded off some fierce bidding from the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to buy Varun Chakravarthy for a whopping ₹8.4 crore. To put things into perspective, the spinner had a base price of ₹20 lakh.

“For a person who wanted to have a career in architecture, all this happening, my parents – they couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like a movie. I didn’t expect anything more than the base price. But, something else happened. I was even trending on Twitter, with ‘Who is Varun Chakravarthy?’...it was crazy,” the spinner added.

Varun Chakravarthy, however, couldn’t live up to the expectations as he played just one match in IPL 2019 before being released at the end of the season.

He was smashed for 35 runs in three overs against KKR on his IPL debut on March 27, 2019. Later that year though, the 28-year-old was snapped up by KKR, meaning that the spinner would have his shot at redemption in IPL 2020.