"Improve your batting" - Abhishek Nayar reveals BCCI's shocking demand from Varun Chakravarthy for India comeback

One of the monumental figures behind Kolkata Knight Riders' IPL 2024 triumph Abhishek Nayar has revealed why Varun Chakravarthy doesn't get selected for India. 

Varun Chakravarthy is one name in Indian cricketing who shot to fame very quickly and was brought back to the ground at a similar pace. His performance for the Knight Riders in the 2021 IPL season had the then-Indian team management convinced that he was the one whom they had been looking for. A spinner with plenty of mystery. 

The mysterious case of a mystery spinner 

The expectations and hype around him were so high that Varun Chakravarthy was picked in the Indian team for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE. But in turn, what happened was something none of us expected. The spinner could not even pick up a single wicket in the tournament and ended up conceding 71 runs from three matches against Pakistan, New Zealand, and Scotland. 

While it was an overall poor performance by the Indian team in the 2021 T20 WC, Varun Chakravarthy was majorly thrown under the bus. Chakravarthy was blamed for his poor performance and since November 5th, 2021, no one has heard of the leg-spinner's prospects of being selected in the Indian team. 

What did Abhishek Nayar say about Varun Chakravarthy?

In a recent interview, Varun Chakravarthy had revealed that he was deliberately not picked up by the Indian team but Abhishek Nayar has revealed the real reason. Nayar is someone who knows about the Indian domestic circuit in and out and he is also a key reason behind Chakravarthy's coming up in the KKR team. 

While speaking to Ranveer Allahabadia in the latest podcast, Abhishek Nayar spoke about the mysterious case of Varun Chakravarthy. Nayar claimed that the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer, after performing well in List A cricket, was told by one selector that he should also be focussing on his batting ability and improving his athleticism on the field. 

That improvements in batting and fielding will make it much easier for him to make the cut and that was the mindset of the selectors.  

"Varun Chakravarthy performs every year in the Vijay Hazare [Trophy], everywhere," Nayar said on The Ranveer Show Podcast. "But I remember selectors told him, 'You should improve your batting, you'll be able to make the cut; Improve your fielding and you'll be able to make the cut'. That was the mindset.

Abhishek Nayar then admitted that Varun Chakravarthy had sent him videos after scoring runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last season. Nayar also observed that Chakravarthy's fielding also improved in this IPL season and made an appeal to Indian players that they should focus on every aspect of the game in order to survive. 

"So he scored a few runs in the Vijay Hazare this time and sent me a video [saying,] 'I hit two sixes, scored 40 runs.' So players automatically start thinking like that because they know it's a requirement. He has also improved his fielding. So, there are things that players work on because they know it's a requirement that you have to do all three things, you can't survive with just one thing."