When Dhoni "smashed the life out of" Varun Chakravarthy, and a motivational late-night chat with SRK

New Delhi [India], October 16 (ANI): India's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy walked down memory lane as he shared a heartwarming story about his journey from being an ardent Chennai Super Kings fan to bowling to MS Dhoni himself.
Chakravarthy made the remarks during an appearance on presenter Gaurav Kapur's popular web series, 'Breakfast with Champions.'
The 34-year-old player recalled how his house was located between the team hotel and Chepauk Stadium, and how he once followed the CSK team bus - only to later find himself facing the legendary Dhoni in the nets.
"The hotel where CSK stay and the Chepauk Stadium, in between, is my house. It used to be jam-packed. There have been times when I would follow the bus, but to cut to that, I was bowling to MSD. It was a great experience. There were a few times where I got the better of him, but many times he smashed the life out of me," he said on 'Breakfast with Champions'
Varun Chakravarthy is part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, which is co-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Further in the conversation, the bowler Chakravarthy recalled a pivotal moment from the 2024 IPL season, revealing how a late-night chat with Shah Rukh Khan changed his mindset after conceding 261 runs against the Punjab Kings.
"The year that we won, 2024, we conceded 261 against Punjab. We were like, how did we end up conceding 261, as we had a great bowling line-up? That night, I got a message from Shah Rukh's manager. He wanted to come to my room. We spoke for 40 minutes. I told him that I made a mistake. He told me that in stead of trying to do something magical, just do the basics. Maybe the team was just expecting me to bowl a normal ball, but I was going behind the magic ball," the player added.
The spinner is also a prolific Indian Premier League (IPL) bowler, having taken 100 wickets in 84 IPL matches at an average of 23.85, with a five-wicket haul to his name. He has also won the IPL 2024 title with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), taking 21 wickets in the campaign at an average of 19.14.
India recently announced its white-ball squads for the Australian tour. At the same time, Chakravarthy remained a part of the T20I leg but remained on the sidelines for ODIs.
In 24 T20Is for India, Varun has taken 40 wickets at an average of 15.60, with best figures of 5/17 and an economy rate of 6.89. He has two five-wicket hauls in T20Is. In four ODIs, he has taken 10 wickets at an average of 19.00, with a fifer to his name. He has captured the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the Asia Cup T20I edition 2025 with the Indian team. (ANI)