‘I cry the whole night’: Varun Chakaravarthy admits to pre-tournament anxiety

NEW DELHI: India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy opened up about his emotional struggles before the start of tournaments, admitting that he often feels anxious and ends up crying the night before matches. Chakravarthy made the remarks during an appearance on presenter Gaurav Kapur’s popular web series, ‘Breakfast with Champions.’

“I am a very bad starter. When a new tournament is going to start, I start very badly. I cry the whole night. I am like what’s going to happen tomorrow, I don’t know what’s it going to be. This happened to me this Asia Cup also,” he said on ‘Breakfast with Champions’.

Further, Chakravarthy drew an interesting parallel between chess and cricket, praising Jasprit Bumrah as the sport’s true number one while acknowledging his own journey toward that level.

“I follow chess now. When Gukesh won the championship, he told I might be the World Champion right now, but everyone knows Magnus Carlsen is the number one player. So I might be ranked number one, but the number one is always Jasprit Bumrah. There are Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan. I am doing well, but still some time to go before I can reach that stage”, the 36-year-old player added.

Varun’s debut in July 2021 didn’t get off to an ideal start, with just two wickets in six matches; it seemed as if he had played his last game in the international circuit. He honed his skills on the sidelines and returned to the T20I fold in October 2024.

He has become a regular face in the shortest format of cricket and has been instrumental to India’s growing prominence in T20Is, as well as their unbeaten run to the Champions Trophy earlier this year. He initially sat out in the opening games but stormed into the final XI to finish with nine wickets at an average of 15.11, with a best of 5/42, the joint-second highest in the tournament, behind New Zealand’s Matt Henry (10).

India recently announced its white-ball squads for the Australian tour. At the same time, Chakravarthy remained a part of the T20I leg but remained on the sidelines for ODIs.

In 24 T20Is for India, Varun has taken 40 wickets at an average of 15.60, with best figures of 5/17 and an economy rate of 6.89. He has two five-wicket hauls in T20Is. In four ODIs, he has taken 10 wickets at an average of 19.00, with a fifer to his name. He has captured the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the Asia Cup T20I edition 2025 with the Indian team.

The spinner is also a prolific Indian Premier League (IPL) bowler, having taken 100 wickets in 84 IPL matches at an average of 23.85, with a five-wicket haul to his name. He has also won the IPL 2024 title with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), taking 21 wickets in the campaign at an average of 19.14. (ANI)