IPL 2020: I used to come to Chepauk just to see Dhoni bat, says Varun Chakravarthy

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Varun Chakravarthy revealed that he used to visit the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium to watch MS Dhoni bat. Thus, it was a surreal moment for him to bowl to the CSK captain last night, let alone castle him.

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In a video uploaded on social media by the Indian Premier League, Man of the Match Rahul Tripathi asked Varun Chakravarthy if he felt any pressure realising he had to bowl to MS Dhoni. The 29-year-old spinner replied saying that he almost had to pinch himself to get back to reality.

“Yeah, yeah, because three years back, I used to come to the Chepauk stands and sit with the crowd and I used to just come to see MS Dhoni batting. Now, I bowled against him; it was a surreal moment for me. After the match, I took a picture with Dhoni sir,” Varun Chakravarthy said.

It was in the 17th over of CSK’s chase that MS Dhoni tried to hoick Varun Chakravarthy over mid-wicket and ended up missing the ball altogether, only to see the LED stumps light up. He hit a boundary over covers off the previous ball, but the leg-spinner came back strongly to deceive the CSK skipper in the air.

Interestingly, MS Dhoni tried to pull off a similar heave in Chakravarthy’s third over, but ended up getting an inside edge onto his pads.

Kolkata’s (K)night Riders starring Varun and RahulOne watched #Dhoni play from the stands and took his wicket, the other scored a brilliant half century at the top of the order. Listen to their story from Abu Dhabi.📹📹https://t.co/CiDuudOgms #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/wsa9IRBXVQ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 8, 2020

Varun Chakravarthy had a nightmarish IPL 2019

Varun Chakravarthy made his IPL debut against KKR last year (Image Credits: IPLT20.com)

Varun Chakravarthy initially came into the limelight after helping the Siachem Madurai Panthers win TNPL 2018. He also became Tamil Nadu’s highest wicket-taker – with 22 wickets in nine matches – in the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The performances saw the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) shell out a whopping ₹8.4 crore for him in the player auction that year.

He, however, couldn’t live up to his billing as he played just one match in IPL 2019 and got smashed for 35 runs in three overs on his debut against KKR.

IPL 2020, however, is proving to be a reincarnation for Varun Chakravarthy. He is KKR’s leading wicket-taker this season, having scalped 4 wickets in as many matches at an impressive economy rate of 7.93.