India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has revealed how his obsession with cricket once led him to carry a cricket ball to his own wedding reception – a habit he says has become second nature.Speaking on Breakfast with Champions with Gaurav Kapur, the 34-year-old said he rarely goes anywhere without a ball in hand. “If you meet me anywhere else, at any time of the day, you will find a ball with me. I always carry it. I do not even realise that I have carried it to a place,” Varun said.The Kolkata Knight Riders star recalled the amusing moment from his big day. “I did that in my reception as well as at my own wedding reception. I ended up taking the ball to the stage and then gave it to my brother to take it away. If that skin of the ball does not touch my hand, I start getting withdrawal symptoms like something is missing,” he laughed.
Interestingly, Varun was not always a cricket fanatic. A late bloomer, he only began taking the sport seriously at 26 after dabbling in other interests. “If I go before 26, 24-26, it was all about movies. Before 24, it was about becoming the best architect in the world,” he said, recalling his early years filled with varied ambitions. Architecture, filmmaking and music were a few of his many interests before cricket.Denied entry to academies due to age limits, the spinner turned to the internet for guidance. “My only guru, the sakshat guru, was YouTube. I kept seeing videos with at least 200-300 hours of bowling footage of Sunil Narine, Shahid Afridi, and Rashid Khan. Anil Kumble, I have watched easily thousands of hours of his bowling. This ignited a spark within me,” he said.
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Since then, Varun has built an impressive career. With 40 wickets in 24 T20Is for India and over 100 wickets in the IPL, including a title-winning season with KKR in 2024. His journey from self-taught spinner to one of India’s top T20I bowlers remains as unique as the man who once took a cricket ball to his wedding stage.
