Indian spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has named Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and, more recently, Abhishek Sharma as the toughest batters he’s bowled to. The 34-year-old said that the last of the three batters should be told to play aggressively only for India and not for his franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The 25-year-old southpaw has been in red-hot form in the shortest format of the game and was adjudged the Player of the tournament at the 2025 Asia Cup for his batting exploits.
“Chris Gayle, Virat, and, of late, Abhishek Sharma. You should tell Abhishek next time to try to be soft on the bowlers. Let him bat like this for India, not for SRH,” Chakaravarthy said on “Breakfast with Champions”.
Chakaravarthy also revealed how he was a follower of chess and admitted that while things were going well for him, at present, he still had some work to do to be as good as the likes of Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan.
“I follow chess now. When Gukesh won the championship, he told I might be the World Champion right now, but everyone knows Magnus Carlsen is the number one player. So I might be ranked number one, but the number one is always Jasprit Bumrah. There are Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan. I am doing well, but still some time to go before I can reach that stage,” he said.
The spinner said that, as compared to some of his other team-mates, he was more of an introvert and took time to write and visualize at the end of practice sessions.
“I’ve always been an introvert. I’m not like Arshdeep or Nayar who are outspoken and can crack jokes. I have a slightly dark humor. After practice I go to my room, to stay away from cricket I keep writing. I love writing. It brings out what’s within me outside and helps me visualize. By the end I totally forget that I was a cricketer and I have a match to play the next day
