Varun Chakaravarthy has looked to add more dimensions to his bowling. Image Credits: AFPVarun Chakaravarthy has had a mixed year. He has picked up wickets at times, but has hardly been at his best. And perhaps that defines him perfectly.He’s too good for most batting line-ups and can run through them even when he’s not at his peak. At home, in particular, Varun can be difficult to put away for batters who aren’t exceptionally skilled against spin. Yet, he knows he cannot afford to stand still.He has to keep evolving, and that’s exactly what he’s been doing. Some changes to his usual approach have been visible lately. In New Delhi, Afghanistan got a firsthand look at the revamped version of Varun Chakaravarthy.Varun Chakaravarthy’s fuller lengthsLength Distribution of Varun ChakaravarthyVarun’s lengths have been a major talking point since his poor run of form began. His whole modus operandi has been to bowl shorter than a spinner typically would. He combines that with his unusually quick pace and straighter lines, generating substantial overspin and making sweeps, other cross-batted shots and coming down the track virtually impossible.But during the 2026 T20 World Cup, particularly in the Super 8 stage, teams found a way to negate his threat. They started backing away or shifting onto the back foot, with that percentage rising from 45.83% in his first four matches to 57.02% for the remainder of the tournament. David Miller, Dewald Brevis and even Jacob Bethell managed to counter him by staying deep in the crease or making room.Also Read: Varun Chakaravarthy Replacements Who Can Come In India’s T20 Squad vs AfghanistanThe trend continued into IPL 2026, with batters backing away or staying on the back foot on 46.34% of the deliveries Varun bowled. He still found success at times, but he was no longer the same threat. His lengths, meanwhile, started getting shorter and shorter, making back-foot play increasingly comfortable for batters.IndianPremierLeague @IPL Through the gate ✖ 2️⃣ \|/ Varun Chakaravarthy is weaving his magic in Kolkata! 👏 Updates ▶ May 4, 2025, 6:14 PM To prevent batters from getting extra time in the crease, Varun has actively begun bowling slightly fuller, moving towards the more traditional good-length zone between four and six metres. Since the UK tour, 48.53% of his deliveries have landed in the 4-6 metre range, while 33.82% have been in the 6-8 metre zone. In IPL 2026, those figures were 41.57% and 45.49%, respectively.Even the 2-4 metre range has surged from 7.84% in IPL 2026 to 10.29% since the UK tour. His median length has also shifted from six metres in IPL 2026 to 5.70 metres.Also Read: Varun Chakaravarthy Ruled Out After Just 1 Match On T20I ReturnUnsurprisingly, his 4-6 metre deliveries have become more threatening. He has conceded only 7.82 runs per over from that range, compared to 8.45 in IPL 2026. His economy on 6-8 metre deliveries has also improved significantly, from 7.43 to 6.When Mohammad Nabi backed away to cut one in the 11th over, he could only get an inside edge without any timing. It was fuller than the batter anticipated, so his cross-batted shot didn’t come right from the middle and rather took an edge. Earlier, Darwish Rasooli had missed a fuller delivery by hopping on the back foot and almost gave an LBW chance by misjudging it altogether.This is still a work in progress, but Varun is clearly making a conscious effort to trap batters in the crease. They are still going onto the back foot more often, but as he bowls fuller, his pace and flatter trajectory should give them less time to adjust. That, in turn, could bring his most reliable modes of dismissal - LBW and bowled - back into play, particularly because his lines remain straight and directed at the stumps.More leg-spins% balls bowled by Varun ChakaravarthyAnother notable shift has come in the variations Varun Chakaravarthy bowls. When he reinvented himself and made his India comeback in 2024, the spinner bowled an out-and-out googly, delivered beyond the perpendicular arm. But over time, batters started reading him more like an off-spinner, expecting the ball to turn into right-handers.To counter that predictability, Varun has now actively started bowling more leg-spin. He did bowl leg-spin before too, but it was not a traditional leg-break and was rather delivered with a grip closer to that of his googly. Now, he has worked on producing a more conventional leg-spin to go along with his googlies.At the 2026 T20 World Cup and IPL 2026, Varun bowled only 23.66% and 23.17% leg-spinners, respectively. Since the UK tour, that figure has jumped to 69.70%.The corresponding drop in googlies is even more striking. They accounted for 66.13% of his deliveries at the T20 World Cup, before falling to 45.12% in IPL 2026 and just 25.76% since the UK tour. His over-reliance on the googly is slowly fading, which, in turn, makes the variation itself more threatening.Darwish Rasooli’s dismissal is a perfect example. Varun bowled a couple of leg-spinners to the two right-handers in the seventh over before darting in a quicker googly on the final delivery. Rasooli wasn’t expecting the ball to turn into him and had his stumps rattled before he could even bring his bat down.Sony Sports Network @SonySportsNetwk 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧! 💪 Varun Chakaravarthy cleans up Darwish Rasooli as the 'hosts' lose half their side inside seven overs! Watch #AFGVIND 1st T20I LIVE NOW on Sony Sports Ten 5 & Sony MAX. #SonySportsNetwork #SonyMax #ExtraaaInnings Sep 13, 2026, 8:58 PM Notably, Varun now bowls his leg-spin increasingly from over the wicket, against both right and left-handers. At the T20 World Cup, only 38.64% of his leg-spinners to RHBs came from around the wicket, increasing further to 43.86% in IPL 2026. Since the UK tour, however, that figure has dropped to just 17.39%.Against left-handers, in particular, Varun has a clear case for bowling more from over the wicket. His natural drift can take the ball away from the southpaw while creating a sharper angle from over the wicket. His high pace will then bring the outside edge even more into play when he bowls a googly.Also Read: Abhishek Sharma Threatens Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Records In IND vs AFG 2nd T20IThat gives him another way to trouble left-handers with his angle and variations, even when the surface isn’t offering enough grip. On flatter pitches, that could become particularly valuable. Varun seems to be actively exploring this option, with his share of deliveries to LHBs from over the wicket climbing from 37.70% at the 2026 T20 World Cup to 49.48% in IPL 2026 and 82.35% since the UK tour.Varun continues to evolve as a mystery spinner% balls from each bowling end by Varun ChakaravarthyVarun Chakaravarthy’s career has been all about reinventing himself. He has made notable changes at multiple points, and after another rough patch, he might have come up with yet another update to his game. These are still early trends, but the spinner is clearly looking to reduce his predictability and give himself more options on flatter surfaces.That’s precisely what India need at the moment. Their spin stocks are at an all-time low, and they cannot afford for Varun to become completely off-colour. In Australia, his natural attributes could be particularly valuable.Sony Sports Network @SonySportsNetwk Varun Chakaravarthy gets the big fish, Fakhar Zaman 💪🔥 Watch the Asia Cup Final LIVE NOW on the Sony Sports Network TV channels & Sony LIV. #SonySportsNetwork #DPWorldAsiaCup2025 #INDvPAK Sep 28, 2025, 9:30 PM He imparts substantial overspin and should consistently hit the bat higher on Australian pitches. His battle with Tim David, and the wicket that followed in Melbourne last year, serve as a perfect example. David simply tried to defend a straight googly but was beaten by the extra bounce, getting a thick contact high on the bat and offering a return catch to the bowler.During that series, Varun conceded just 6.83 runs per over and took five wickets at 16.40 apiece across three innings. All the other spinners from both sides collectively averaged 24.10 and went at 9.03 runs per over. That included two quality Australian spinners, Adam Zampa and Matthew Kuhnemann, who are more accustomed to these conditions.Varun, then, is crucial to India’s chances at the next T20 World Cup. Few other spinners can offer the combination of mystery and guile that he brings, regardless of the surface.And once he starts turning the ball away from right-handers more consistently, hitting against the spin should become even more rewarding. The bigger boundaries on either side will make it harder for mistimed shots to clear the field, while the extra bounce should bring edges into play.For now, Varun needs to keep evolving and find ways to prevent batters from lining him up. Fortunately for India, he is not one of those mystery spinners unwilling to move away from what has worked for them. He has repeatedly shown a willingness to change, and he might be gradually adding another chapter to his evolution.Also Read: Pakistan Women's Team Punished By ICC After Men's Team In A Single Day
