Champions Trophy 2025: Former KKR partners in crime, Shreyas Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy destroy Black Caps

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Champions Trophy 2025: This was one war where India produced a bowler whose stuff was comparable to the damage a potent bomb could do. On Sunday night in Dubai, Varun Chakaravarthy, playing just his second One day international, bamboozled New Zealand under the arc lights as India won their third match in a row in the Champions Trophy.

Rohit Sharma's men run into Australia in the semi-finals, which will be a KO, to borrow a boxing phrase. Given the past record, loaded in favour of the Aussies in big ICC tournament matches, conditions in Dubai and mystery spinner Varun may be more than a handful.

Indeed, when the team sheets were put out for the match on Sunday, Varun coming in for Harshit Rana had led to a flutter. The naïve were moaning, how India could go in with just one medium pacer, Mohd Shami. For those who are innocent of cricket, even after sitting in the Dubai media box and saying all this, they, perhaps, forgot Hardik Pandya can also be a useful bowler. Pandya bowled five overs and claimed one for 42. Given the conditions in Dubai and India bowling second, between Pandya and Shami they bowled just eight overs. The rest was for the spinners to make a meal of it.

A total of 249 from India in 50 overs was below par, or so we thought. Here, again, after the top order crumbled - Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli - in came the rock star who has been dominating the ODIs, Shreyas Iyer. His batting was simple, effective and at the same time very important for India as he scored 77 runs. That Shreyas failed to get to a century was sad. He deserved it.

For those BCCI selectors who had confined him to the dustbin for long, Shreyas has been pretty much like restoring an item from the trash can. Shreyas has been the underdog, yet he has not minded it. To bounce back like a yo-yo and swing his bat in a clean fashion, he has been defining consistency in the last set of ODIs India have been playing. It began against India in a home series and Shreyas has blossomed like an improbable spring rose in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates.

If the former KKR captain had essayed one more knock which had sheen, how long could Varun be kept in hiding. Imagine, the Indian side was loaded with spinners, all of high pedigree. To have Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav coming at the Black Caps like stealth missiles was more than enough. Then came the man who has earned the nickname of mystery spinner. Well, Varun Chakrvarthy, who has played under Shreyas in the KKR side and been part of a good IPL campaign in 2024, exploded into brilliance.

Yes, the Kiwis know how to play spin, they are professionals. But did they have the skill set and ability to adapt to Varun, whose graduation from typical T20 stuff to ODIs has been a forceful one. In T20s, a bowler has to churn out just four overs. From there to ODIs, it is a massive increase, 10 overs. If bringing in Varun as the surprise element was part of skipper Rohit Sharma's master plan, it worked. So, what is the mystery around Varun Chakravarthy?

Well, if you had watched him bowl, it became clear he is a sorcerer. At the post match press conference, Varun had almost the entire media corps in splits when he explained what all he can bowl. For someone who aspired in life to become an architect or a film producer, serious cricket began only at 26. Varun is now 33.

More than an architect, his job is to play the role of a destroyer like the bulldozer. Instead of making noise and letting dust fly, he shows how to bowl a variety of deliveries, the one which comes in sharply, another which goes out and then even a straighter one.

It, obviously, comes from a thinking head and a bowling arm which are in sync. Surely, like Shreyas coming in as a replacement in the ODI series against England, Varun now becomes an ingredient as essential as salt in a dinner main dish. Keep him ready for the Aussies on March 4.