Being An Architect, Cricket Was Varun’s Passion:

What is popular between Anil Kumble, S Venkataraghavan, Erapalli Prasanna, Krishnamachari Srikanth, Javagal Srinath, R Ashwin?

The Stellar cricketers, sure. But did you remember, all of them had a degree in engineering before they made a name for themselves in cricket? Ok, let’s introduce you to one of those characters in our 2020 squad-Varun Chakravarthy, B.Arch, SRM Institute of Science and Technology.

The modest, soft-spoken lad from Chennai took the spotlight after being one of the hottest picks of the 2019 IPL Auction, where Kings XI Punjab picked him for a big deal.

A year later, the KKR think tank ensured that we had him in our ranks for his peculiar, enigmatic bowling style. After all, the Tamil Nadu leg-spinner, who has many variations in his kitty, was part of our 2018 camp as a net-bowler, where he mesmerized management with his unusual skills.

“I studied at SRM College, Kattankulathur. I did architecture-it ‘s a five-year technical course,” Varun said in a recent interaction with a leading sports website. “It was a whole different world. It’s all about machines, T-scales, drawing, map papers, and all that material.”

Varun was so deeply involved that he didn’t even watch or play cricket during this period. “I’ve never seen matches before, but I’ve always had that passion (for cricket),” he said.

“Somewhere in my definition of every design in a house, I used to bring cricket into it. Architecture is all about Lines and Angles. Even bowling is all about Lines, Lengths, Angles of what you’re bowling. So somewhere, I was able to relate it. Even my fifth-year thesis was a Cricket Stadium!”

That’s when Varun reconnected with his love for cricket, but to make sure he had a steady income, he started working at the Chennai architectural company. “I didn’t have any contacts in cricket, I didn’t have a kit-bag, nothing. I had to start all over again,” he explained. “But because of that, because of my expenses, I needed to work. I wanted a career.”

Varun worked as an architect for two years before switching to a full-time cricket career. “I got through a job interview, I got picked, and then I started working for two years, but then I was playing cricket side by side.”

“My bosses (D+Y Architects) were very helpful. I had to take off for half a day if I had a match or something. I used to go up to them directly and ask them. They were very helpful, they said, you can take your break.”

In the 2018 TNPL season, Varun was one of the most economical bowlers with an average of only RPO 4.7. He was one of the main players to win the title of Madurai Panthers in 2018 with a score of 2/9 overs in the final.

The Tamil Nadu lad was the top bidder (22 wickets in 9 matches) for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018–19. Then came the auction, and the cricket world began to wonder-who is this Varun Chakravarthy?

“For someone who wanted to have a career in design, all this was going on, my parents- they couldn’t believe what was going on. It was like a film.

“I didn’t expect something more than the base price, but something else happened, I was even trending on Twitter, who’s Varun Chakravarthy and all that stuff. It was wild!”

Varun Chakaravarthy ‘s story is special, and he’s all set to give Purple and Gold this year and show off his magic with the ball. “I never thought that Cricket was going to come back to my life again, but somehow, even though I left cricket, cricket didn’t leave me. It just came back to me.”