Varun Chakravarthy used his skills incorrectly at T20 World Cup: Amit Mishra

Kolkata, June 11 — Varun Chakravarthy’s dramatic reversal of fortune between IPL 2023 and last November’s T20 World Cup was not the result of batsmen “reading” his mystery spin, but of the bowler himself abandoning the methods that made him successful, insists veteran India leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

Speaking exclusively to TimesofIndia.com, Mishra said the 32-year-old’s dip in the global tournament—despite finishing joint-highest wicket-taker—stemmed from a hurried, pace-heavy approach that stripped away the subtlety that had tormented IPL line-ups.

“In the T20 World Cup, Varun was using his skills a bit incorrectly,” Mishra stated. “He started bowling a bit too fast, leaving his strengths. In the IPL last year, he used to bowl one slow ball, one top-spin, one googly, and one leg-spin. He wasn’t doing that under pressure when runs were being scored.”

Mishra, who owns three IPL hat-tricks, believes the fix is straightforward: return to the tempo and sequencing that brought Chakravarthy 20 wickets at an economy of 8.15 in IPL 2023. “You need someone to tell you, to explain. Everyone knows execution is important; that’s why I say stick to your strengths.”

The conversation highlights a wider trend in T20 cricket: the rise—and occasional fall—of mystery spinners. Since the format’s birth, bowlers like Sunil Narine, Ajantha Mendis, Abrar Ahmed and Mujeeb Ur Rahman have shaped team strategies, aided by the Decision Review System that encourages umpires to trust marginal calls. Yet Mishra cautions that variations alone cannot replace classical virtues.

“Simple bowling in T20 means that when you already have some help from the pitch, you shouldn’t try too hard for wickets,” he explained. “Stick to your good areas, stick to your strengths. If it’s going well, keep bowling at that pace until it’s necessary to change.”

The former India spinner also addressed the modern batting arsenal—reverse sweeps, switch hits, power-hitting in the first two overs—that forces bowlers into a defensive mindset. “Indian players now have a variety of shots we earlier saw mostly from foreign players. If you put pressure on the bowler in the first 12 balls, it puts them on the backfoot.”

Even so, Mishra argues that spinners must not over-react to soaring totals—250 has become routine in the IPL—by overloading on variations. “A spinner’s job is to spin the ball. You should know how to spin it.”

On analytics-driven match-ups, Mishra remains sceptical of rigid rules. “I never believed a left-arm orthodox spinner can’t bowl to a left-hander or an off-spinner can’t bowl to a right-hander. If you have the skills, you can do it.” He cites Rashid Khan as the template for discipline: “He stays around 100 kph, that’s his strength. He doesn’t leave it.”

Looking toward the next IPL cycle, Mishra refuses to single out rising spinners but sets a clear benchmark: “When you are new, people haven’t seen much of you, so you have more chances to perform. Now I want to see what changes they have made in their bowling this year, what mindset they have brought, what they have enhanced.”

For Varun Chakravarthy, the message from one of India’s most successful T20 wrist-spinners is unambiguous: slow it down, trust the variations that worked, and remember that mystery minus execution is merely guesswork.