The 33-year-old Indian leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy is now India's no.1 T20I bowler, while he made his international comeback last year after missing the Indian jersey for almost three years. Recently, he revealed who motivated him during his tough time, which inspired him to make his international comeback. 

After recording only two wickets in his first six T20Is, Varun Chakravarthy missed international cricket for almost three years before making his comeback during the home T20I series against Bangladesh last October, where he finished as the joint leading wicket-taker with five wickets. Then, he bagged 12 wickets in the four-match T20I series in South Africa, including one five-wicket haul, the most wickets by an Indian in a bilateral T20I series. However, he broke that series record in the next T20I series against England at home by picking up 14 wickets in five matches, including one fifer.  

While India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 by winning all matches of the tournament, Varun Chakravarthy made his ODI debut just before that tournament and finished the Champions Trophy as the joint second most wicket-taker in the tournament with nine wickets in just three games. The leg-spinner is currently the fourth-ranked T20I bowler, who was not even in the Indian team a year ago. 

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Gauti Bhai also has helped me a lot in my comeback: Varun Chakravarthy

For his international cricket comeback, Varun credited the Indian Head Coach Gautam Gambhir. While he wasn't in contention, Gambhir supported him, which helped him regain his confidence.

Varun recently told RevSportz, "Similarly, Gauti Bhai also has helped me a lot in my comeback, the way he motivates me. Even if we talk little, he has always given me good confidence and he has always told that "no matter who's going to ignore you, I will keep you in my plans for now". So, that kind of gave me confidence. And if you ask about Gauti Bhai as a mentor, then I would say he brings in a warrior mindset in the dressing room, which is very important and has worked for us at KKR and in the Champions Trophy."

Varun's luck changed with his IPL 2024 performance. While his team Kolkata Knight Riders won the title under the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir, Varun was the second leading wicket-taker in that season with 21 wickets. Although he missed the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, he then made his international comeback and set an inspirational story. 

Varun Chakravarthy about the skipper Suryakumar Yadav

Varun also praised the present Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, as he said that Yadav was similar to India's last T20 World Cup-winning captain Rohit Sharma. 

Varun said, "You give everything you have and it does not matter whether you win or you lose. And about Surya, he is someone very similar to Rohit Sharma - that is what I've seen. He is a very tactically sound, and maybe his time at MI Mumbai Indians has given him good exposure to great captains. He is a very good guy and never puts pressure on the bowlers. It would be a bowler's delight to have a captain like him."