India vs West Indies: Varun Chakravarthy goes from match-winner to under performer as bowling woes continue

Bowling, in the modern game, is tough work. Almost everything, especially in the shorter formats, seems to be skewed in the batters’ favour. There are field restrictions. The boundaries, more often than not, are pint-sized and pitches regularly masquerade as expressways.

That is precisely why bowling match-winners are valued so much. Bowlers who can turn a game around in a spell. In an over. In a ball. And heading into the T20 World Cup, India seemed to have a bowler of that ilk in Varun Chakravarthy.

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Varun’s Super 8 struggles

He began the tournament like the world’s best bowler too. Varun picked up wickets throughout the group stage. He picked up crucial wickets at important junctures, and it felt that his variations, which form the crux of his bowling, were safeguarded and still indecipherable.

But in the Super Eight, that script seems to have been ripped up. In twelve overs across three matches, he has conceded 122 runs and has taken only 3 wickets. Varun’s effectiveness has dipped, owing to batters targeting him by using different methods. Despite all the improvements, he is still a bowler who relies very much on attacking the stumps. Over-spin has been a prevalent feature in his rise to prominence again, but he does not rag the ball round corners. He spins it just enough.

Most of that has not changed. And Varun has not bowled badly per se either. Batters have definitely played him better, though. They have tried hitting a lot straighter and have, on occasions, treated Varun as an incoming bowler, backing themselves to adjust to anything that turns away, or any other variation.

Varun has, thus, been unable to apply the squeeze as much as he or India would have liked. Boundaries have flown far more freely, and his aura, to an extent, has diminished. Only because batters now feel they can get on top of him.

Can Varun turn it around?

Varun, given his body of work, and given how much India depend on him, would have still believed in himself to find a solution. He may have been shell-shocked by South Africa. He may have been in the midst of tweaking something while facing Zimbabwe. But after another relatively futile endeavour against West Indies, it is threatening to become a bit of a pattern.

And that, with the campaign on the line for India, is the last thing they would have wanted. Varun can still turn things around. There is a reason he is among the best T20 bowlers in the world (rankings, eye test, and by every possible metric). And there is a reason why so many touted India to go all the way. Just due to Varun’s presence.

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Now, though, there is a bit of uncertainty. If Varun will get another go. And if India will have another shot at defending their title. Only time will tell how that narrative transpires. But these three Super Eight games have only highlighted how tough a gig bowling is, especially in T20 cricket, and how bowlers are prone to crests and troughs. More so in this erratic format.

But this much was known to almost everyone. What was taken as a given and for granted was Varun’s ability to somehow always come up with a solution, irrespective of the occasion and the opposition, and even when it may have felt unattainable. And that is what will sting him and India most. Especially if their campaign is to come to an end at the Eden Gardens. And especially in the knowledge that he had it in him to do so much better.