Team India`s mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy opened up about his emotional struggles before the start of the tournaments. He also admitted that he often feels anxious and ends up crying the nights before the games.
While speaking on the `Breakfast with Champions` show, Chakaravarthy said he is a bad starter in the tournament. He also admitted that he was caught up in his overthinking during the start of the Asia Cup 2025 as well.
“I am a very bad starter. When a new tournament is going to start, I start very badly. I cry the whole night. I am like what`s going to happen tomorrow, I don`t know what`s it going to be. This happened to me this Asia Cup also,” he said.
He also heaped praise on Team India`s lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah by saying the pacer will always be number one. The Bidar-born cricketer also gave special mention to Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan, saying there`s still time to reach their level.
“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 and Rashid Khan. I am doing well, but still some time to go before I can reach that stage,” said the 34-year-old cricketer.
Team India will now lock horns against Australia for the white-ball series. The contest will consist of three ODIs and five T20I matches between the two teams.
Varun has been added to India`s T20I side. Additionally, the ODI series will be crucial for the star Indian duo, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as they return to international cricket after the Champions Trophy 2025 triumph.
The first ODI will kick start on October 19 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
India`s squad for the white-ball series against Australia
India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
(With ANI Inputs)