Varun Chakravarthy Biography | Age | Career | Records

Varun Chakravarthy – cricketer from Tamil Nadu was born on 29-08-1991 in Chennai. He made his List A debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 20 September 2018. He was the leading wicket-taker for Tamil Nadu in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with twenty-two dismissals in nine matches.

He got noticed during the TNPL (Tamil Nadu Premiere League) 2018 after he choked the batsman for runs and at the same time also picked up wickets.

He drew a lot of attention at the IPL auction table in 2019 and was finally roped in by Kings XI Punjab for 8.4 crores which is thus far the highest signing amount for an uncapped Indian player.

Varun Chakravarthy Short Biography

Early Career

• At 13 years old, Varun Chakravarthy began playing cricket as a wicket-guardian batsman.
• At 17 years old, he quit cricket; as he didn’t see his future in it. In this way, he chose to turn into a draftsman.
• In 2015, Varun began playing cricket as a medium-pace bowler for the CromBest Cricket Club.

Domestic Career

• He came into the spotlight in 2018 when he played for the Siechem Madurai Panthers in Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), where he took nine wickets in 10 coordinates and conveyed 125 speck balls out of the 240 balls.

• In 2018, Varun Chakravarthy got chose to play for Tamil Nadu, and he made his List An introduction against Gujarat at Chennai in the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
• In the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took 22 wickets in 9 matches at an economy rate of 4.23.
• He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy on 12 November 2018.

IPL

• In December 2018, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) got him at an incredible cost of 8.4 crores for the ‘2019 Indian Premier League’ (IPL) auction.
• He was released by the Kings XI Punjab(now Punjab Kings) ahead of the 2020 IPL auction.
• In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2020 IPL.
• On 24 October 2020, he took his first five-wicket haul in the IPL, with figures of 5 wickets for 20 runs, against the Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi.
• In 2021 season, he played 17 games where he picked 18 wickets and played crucial role for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
• With an disappointing campaign in 2022 season, he came back in 2023 and 2024 seaosn where he picked 20 and 21 wickets respectively.
• He also played a crucial role in the 2024 season where KKR secured their third IPL title under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer.
• In IPL 2025 season, he played 13 games and secured 17 wickets despite the side had a disappointing campaign.
• In IPL 2026 season, he lost his rhythm in the first part of the season, and ended with only 11 wickets in the season.

International

T20I Career

• In October 2020, he was named in India’s Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against Australia.
• On 9 November 2020, Chakravarthy was ruled out of the squad after suffering an injury.
• In February 2021, he was named in India’s T20I squad for their series against England, where he was again missed due to fitness concerns.
• Finally, he made his International debut against Sri Lanka T20 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Jul 25, 2021, under Shikhar Dhawan Captaincy.
• In September 2021, he is selected for the ICC T20I World Cup 2021 Squad, which is to be scheduled to happen in UAE.
• Varun Chakravarthy has been sidelined out of international cricket until making his official return on October 06, 2024 in the game against Bangladesh.
• Since, then he has been part of T20I setup featuring in the series against South Africa, England before featuring in the Asia Cup.
• He was part of the India’s winning squad for the Asia Cup in 2025 and played in the series against Australia in October-November 2025.
• Since then, he was part of integral part of T20I setup. He was part of the India’s squad for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 where they won the third title.

ODI Career

• Making his debut during the 2nd ODI match of the England tour of India 2025, he played a crucial role in the Champions Trophy 2025 where he picked 9 wickets in three games.

Lesser Known Facts About Varun Chakravarthy

• He quit cricket at the age of 17 to become an architect.
• He did freelancing for 2 years before finally decided to start playing cricket again.
• Once, during a counterpart for CromBest Cricket Club, he had endured knee damage, from that point, he couldn’t play for a half year.
• He at that point made his rebound as a spinner and began playing for Jubilee Cricket Club in the fourth division.
• He is fondly called ‘Mystery Spinner’ as he has 7 variations in his bowling.
• According to him, he has seven bowling variations such as Offbreak, Legbreak, Googly, Carrom Ball, Slider, Flipper, and Topspinner.
• He started his career as a medium pacer.
• He has served as a net bowler for KKR and CSK in the past.
• He also made a cameo appearance in the 2014 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film Jeeva as a club cricketer.

Varun Chakravarthy Record and Achievements

• Varun Chakravarthy holds the record for the highest ICC T20I bowling rating achieved by an Indian bowler (818 points).
• He finished as the leading wicket-taker globally in 2025 among all Test-playing nations in T20Is, picking 36 wickets in a single calendar year.
• He als ranked as one of the fastest Indian bowlers to claim 52 T20I wickets in just 32 matches.

Varun Chakravarthy Awards

Varun Chakravarthy has awarded with ESPNcricinfo award in 2025 for Men’s ODI Bowling performance of the year.