Varun Chakravarthy Vinod was born on 29 August 1991 in Bidar, Karnataka, to Vinod Chakravarthy, an ITS officer working for BSNL, and Malini. His father is of half-Tamil and half-Malayali descent, while his mother is a Kannadiga.[1][2][3] He was brought up in Adyar, Chennai.[2]
In December 2018, Varun was bought by the Kings XI Punjab in the player auction for the 2019 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the price of ₹84 million (US$990,000).[12][13] He made his Twenty20 debut for the team on 27 March 2019 in a match against Kolkata Knight Riders.[14] His first over went for 25 runs, the highest number of runs conceded by a bowler on debut in the IPL.[15] He played just the one match in the season,[1] and was released by the Kings XI Punjab ahead of the 2020 IPL auction.[16] In the auction ahead of the 2020 IPL season, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹40 million (US$470,000).[17][18] On 24 October 2020, he took his first five-wicket haul in the IPL, with figures of 5 wickets for 20 runs, against the Delhi Capitals.[19] He finished as the team's highest wicket-taker in the season with 17 wickets.[20]
On 3 May 2021, Varun, and his teammate Sandeep Warrier, tested positive for COVID-19.[21] As a result, the match between the Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore was called off, and the tournament was later suspended.[22] Varun topped the wicket charts for the Knight Riders in the 2021, and In the 2023 IPL seasons.[23][24] He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the 2024 IPL season with 21 dismissals at an average of 19.14 and economy rate of 8.04.[25] He took 18 wickets in six matches for Tamil Nadu at the 2024–25 Vijay Hazare Trophy and finished second on the wicket-takers' list behind Arshdeep Singh.[26]
International career
In October 2020, Varun was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their away series against Australia.[27] However, on 9 November 2020, he was ruled out of the series after suffering an injury.[28] In February 2021, he was named in India's T20I squad for their home series against England, but did not make it to the playing XI.[29] In June 2021, Varun was named in India's One Day International (ODI) and T20I squads for their away series against Sri Lanka.[30] He made his T20I debut on 25 July 2021 in the first match of the series,[31] and took the wicket of the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka.[32] In September 2021, he was named in the Indian squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[33] However, he went wicket-less in his three appearances in the tournament.[34]
In October 2024, Varun made his international comeback after nearly three years in the first match of the T20I series against Bangladesh, and took three wickets.[35] He took his maiden T20I five-wicket haul when he finished with figures of 5/17 in the second match of the away series against South Africa on 10 November 2024.[36] He finished as the highest wicket taker of the series with 12 dismissals in four matches.[37] In early 2025, he won the Player of the series award in the five-match T20I series against England, after taking 14 wickets including his second five-wicket haul (5/24) during the third match of the series.[38][39] He made his ODI debut in the subsequent ODI series against England.[1][40] At 33 years and 164 days old, he became the second oldest ODI debutant for India after Farokh Engineer.[41]
In February 2025, Varun was named in India's 15-member squad for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.[42] He took 5/42 in a group stage match against New Zealand, his maiden ODI five-wicket haul in his second ODI appearance.[43] He took two wickets each in the semifinal against Australia and in the final against New Zealand. He finished as the tournament's joint second-highest wicket-taker with nine wickets in three matches at an average of 15.11, as India won the tournament.[44][45] He was subsequently named in the Team of the Tournament by the International Cricket Council.[46] He was part of the Indian squad for the 2025 Asia Cup held in September 2025.[47] He finished as the second highest wicket taker for India behind Kuldeep Yadav, with seven wickets in six matches, as India won the title.[48].[49]
Personal life
Varun made a cameo appearance in the 2014 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film Jeeva as a club cricketer.[50][51] On 11 December 2020, he married his longtime girlfriend Neha Khedekar in Chennai.[52]
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