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| Full name | Varun Chakaravarthy Vinod | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1991-08-29)29 August 1991 (age 34) Bidar,Karnataka, India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-armleg breakgoogly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| ODI debut (cap 259) | 9 February 2025 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 9 March 2025 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI shirt no. | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T20I debut (cap 87) | 25 July 2021 v Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 28 September 2025 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T20I shirt no. | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–present | Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Kings XI Punjab | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020–present | Kolkata Knight Riders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Source:ESPNcricinfo,28 September 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Varun Chakravarthy Vinod (born 29 August 1991) is an Indianinternationalcricketer who plays forIndia as aleg spin bowler. He made hisT20I debut in July 2021 andODI debut in February 2025.[1] He plays forTamil Nadu in domestic cricket andKolkata Knight Riders in theIndian Premier League.[2] He was a member of the Indian team that won the2025 Champions Trophy and the2025 Asia Cup.
Chakravarthy was born on 29 August 1991 inBidar,Karnataka, to Vinod Chakravarthy, anITS officer working forBSNL, and Malini, a housewife. His father is half-Tamil and half-Malayali,[3] while his mother is aKannadiga.[4] He was brought up inAdyar, Chennai.[3]
He did his schooling inChennai, atKendriya Vidyalaya CLRI and thenSt. Patrick's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, where he played cricket as awicket-keeper but quit the sport to focus on academics. He obtained abachelor's degree in architecture fromSRM University. At age 25, he gave up his job as an architect to pursue cricket professionally.[5][6] Starting out as apace bowler, a knee injury in early 2017 kept him out of action for six months, after which he turned tospin bowling.[7][8]
Chakravarthy came into the limelight during the2018 Tamil Nadu Premier League where his 9 wickets at aneconomy rate of 4.70 helped Madurai Panthers win their maiden title.[9] He made hisList A debut forTamil Nadu in the2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 20 September 2018.[10] He was the leading wicket-taker for Tamil Nadu in the tournament, with 22 dismissals in 9 matches.[11] He made hisfirst-class debut for Tamil Nadu in the2018–19 Ranji Trophy on 12 November 2018.[12]
In December 2018, he was bought by theKings XI Punjab in theplayer auction for the2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the price of 8.4crores.[13][14] He made hisTwenty20 debut for the team on 27 March 2019.[15] His first over went for 25 runs, the highest number of runs conceded by a bowler on debut in the IPL.[16] He was released by the Kings XI Punjab ahead of the2020 IPL auction.[17] In the2020 IPL auction, he was bought by theKolkata Knight Riders ahead of the2020 Indian Premier League.[18] On 24 October 2020, he took his firstfive-wicket haul in the IPL, with figures of 5 wickets for 20 runs, against theDelhi Capitals inAbu Dhabi.[19] He wasKolkata Knight Riders' highest wicket-taker in the2021 IPL.[20]
Chakravarthy was the second-highest wicket-taker in the2024 Indian Premier League with 21 dismissals at an average of 19.14 and economy rate of 8.04.[21] He took 18 wickets in 6 matches for Tamil Nadu at the2024–25 Vijay Hazare Trophy and finished second on the wicket-takers' list behindArshdeep Singh.[22]
In October 2020, he was named in India'sTwenty20 International (T20I) squad for their seriesagainst Australia.[23] However, on 9 November 2020, Chakravarthy was ruled out of the squad after suffering an injury.[24] In February 2021, he was named in India's T20I squad for their seriesagainst England.[25]
In June 2021, he was named in India'sOne Day International (ODI) and T20I squads for their seriesagainst Sri Lanka.[26] He made his T20I debut on 25 July 2021, for India againstSri Lanka,[27] taking the wicket ofDasun Shanaka.[28] In September 2021, Chakravarthy was named in India's squad for the2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[29] He went wicket-less in his three appearances in the tournament.[30]
In October 2024, he made his international comeback after nearly 3 years in thefirst T20I against Bangladesh at Gwalior, where he picked 3/31.[31] His maiden T20I five-wicket haul of 5/17 cameagainst South Africa in Gqeberha in November 2024.[32]
In 2025, Chakravarthy won the Player of the series award in the five-match T20I seriesagainst England, after taking 14 wickets including his second five-wicket haul of 5/24.[33] He was then named in the ODI squad against England and made his ODI debut at Cuttack. At 33 years and 164 days old, he became the second oldest ODI debutant for India afterFarokh Engineer.[34]
In February 2025, he was named in India's 15-member squad for the2025 ICC Champions Trophy.[35] He took 5/42 in a group stage match against New Zealand, his maiden ODI five-for in only his second ODI appearance.[36] He took two wickets each in the semifinal against Australia and thefinal against New Zealand, to finish as the tournament's joint second-highest wicket-taker with 9 wickets in 3 matches at an average of 15.11.[37]
He was named in the ICC'Team of the Tournament' for the2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Varun Chakravarthy also made a cameo appearance in the 2014 Indian Tamil-language sports drama filmJeeva as a club cricketer.[38][39] On 11 December 2020, he married his longtime girlfriend Neha Khedekar in a closed ceremony in Chennai.[40]
On 3 May 2021, Varun Chakravarthy, along with hisKolkata Knight Riders teammateSandeep Warrier, tested positive forCOVID-19.[41] As a result, the match between Kolkata Knight Riders andRoyal Challengers Bangalore was called off. Ultimately, the tournament was suspended.[42]
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Thakur replaced Patel due to injury | ||
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Harshit Rana was named as a replacement forJasprit Bumrah. Varun Chakravarthy replacedYashasvi Jaiswal.Mohammed Siraj andShivam Dube were named as non-travelling substitutes. | ||
