'The only thing I could do was play lots of cricket.'
Mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has described the three-year gap from international cricket as 'tough', but credited the intense domestic grind and the role clarity provided by new head coach Gautam Gambhir as vital in helping regain his lost form.
The 33-year-old spinner recorded his career-best figures of 5/17 in Sunday's second T20I against South Africa, though his efforts could not prevent India from losing by three wickets.
"Definitely, the last three years were a little tough," Chakaravarthy said.
"The only thing I could do was play lots of cricket. And I started playing a lot of the domestic league (TNPL) in India. And that definitely helped me understand my game better. And that's what helped me."
Chakaravarthy was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders' IPL-winning team this year under Gambhir, who recently took over as the coach of the Indian team.
Reflecting on his return to the national side, Chakaravarthy said that Gambhir's guidance had been pivotal.
"Yes, we played the Bangladesh tour and he was coaching the team. And definitely we spoke a lot and he gave me a lot of role clarity.
"He told me, even if you go for 30-40 runs, it doesn't matter. All you have to look is to pick wickets. So that's your role in the team. And yeah, the clarity which they gave definitely helped me."
Chakaravarthy's match-changing spell reduced South Africa to 66/6 while chasing a modest target of 125, but a gritty partnership between Tristan Stubbs (47) and Gerald Coetzee (19) saw the hosts home in 19 overs, ending India's 11-match winning streak in T20 Internationals.
"During the innings break, Surya (skipper Suryakumar Yadav) came and told us that let's not think about the result and let's just go all out. And that's what we tried to do. We did our best and we could have pulled it off.
"Obviously, the mindset has to be aggressive when the score is low. You have to pick wickets and that's when we can win the match. That has to be my approach in the next two games also because it's going to be a do-or-die match for us," he said.
The spinner added that performing against a formidable team like South Africa would serve as a confidence booster heading into the remaining matches.
"Definitely, when we came to South Africa, we knew that it's going to be a challenging tour because the Proteas, they are one of the best teams right now and they have a powerful batting lineup.
"Doing well against them definitely gives me motivation to do more better and definitely I can. Hopefully I can do well in the upcoming games."
The next two T20 Internationals will be played on Wednesday and Friday at Centurion and Johannesburg, respectively.
