Gambhir's animated post-match chat with Varun Chakaravarthy after Bangladesh heroics leaves Shastri puzzled

Varun made his debut in the fifth over of the match against Bangladesh. In just his second ball, he had the opportunity to dismiss Towhid Hridoy, who swept the fullish googly straight towards Nitish Reddy at deep square leg. However, the debutant misfielded, allowing the ball to race away towards the boundary. Despite conceding 15 runs in his opening over, Varun bounced back with a wicket each in his second and third overs, dismissing Hridoy and Jaker Ali. These performances helped him record his best figures in the international format.

After the match, India head coach Gautam Gambhir was spotted having a lengthy and animated discussion with Varun. After the customary handshakes following India's win, the 33-year-old was seen accompanying the former India cricketer, with whom he recently worked in Kolkata Knight Riders, where Gambhir was the mentor of the franchise for the IPL 2024 season. The pair was joined by bowling coach Mornel Morkel as the discussion continued off the field leaving former India head coach Ravi Shastri guessing on-air.

Shastri, trying to make sense of the visual, said on JioCinema: “You can see Varun Chakaravarthy having a chat with Gautam Gambhir. He took three wickets. Gautam could have seen a lot of him at KKR as well. He's probably just telling him about either the pace at which he was bowling, or the fields which he should bowl. Morne Morkel, the bowling coach, is also there and he will tactically add a lot to Varun's game.”

It has been a year to remember for Varun, who was the highest wicket-taker for champions KKR in IPL 2024, with 21 wickets in 14 innings. Later in August, he plied traded with R Ashwin-led Dindigul Dragons, who won the Tamil Nadu Premier League. He finished with 12 wickets, the joint-most for the team and fifth overall. The back-to-back impressive shows helped him earn a spot back into the Indian team after three years.

"After three long years and… it was definitely emotional for me, and it feels nice to be back in the Blues, it feels like a rebirth," he told presenter and former India cricketer Murali Kartik on the official broadcast after India's win.

"There have been many [challenges]. Once you are not in the Indian side, people tend to write you off very easily. You need to stay in the highest level, again and again you need to keep knocking the door. Thankfully, this time it happened and hopefully I can keep continuing my good work."