Since making his white-ball debut in September 2018, Varun Choudhary had to wait nearly five years before he could break into the Services team Ranji Trophy team and play his first red-ball fixture in the ongoing season. And the pacer has made the most of the opportunity that came his way.
The 30-year-old started the tournament on a bright note, picking six wickets in his debut match against Vidarbha, and ended up picking 30 wickets in the season in seven games.
Talking about a successful season, the J&K-born medium pacer explained that his focus was to bowl in the right areas and not run after wickets.
“The focus was to bowl in the right areas. Wickets lena kisi k hath mein nahi hai. So, my focus was to bowl in the right areas and with a plan. That’s what I did. The wicket was a bit helpful there.”
Indian cricket has seen several workhorse bowlers in Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and a few others. Choudhary, who bowled 153 overs across the seven games, hails from a similar family tree of bowlers and has the potential to bowl many overs in red-ball cricket on the trot. However, an ankle surgery pushed him to check his workload.
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“Personally, I try to bowl as much as I can. Before the injury, I used to bowl a lot but post that, I got inclined toward the gym. I’m trying to get back to those old days when I used to bowl a lot. I used to bowl 30-35 overs during the game. So slowly, I’m getting into that rhythm.
“See, the recovery process is very important. I continue with my bowling. We also have all-India matches, so I play that as well. I keep playing tournaments and focus on my fitness as well,” Choudhary explained his fitness regime.
Choudhary has had an interesting journey from playing club cricket in Jammu & Kashmir and serving in the Navy. However, his goal was to play cricket at a professional level.
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“I used to play club cricket in J&K but didn’t play for the state. However, I attended the camps for Under-19. Then I got a job in the Navy as a Petty Officer. I cleared an exam and got the job. Slowly and steadily, everything started falling into place. My home is in district Rajouri which is quite near to the border but my father is in Police so we shifted to Jammu,” the pacer told CricketNext in an exclusive conversation.
While talking about his journey, Choudhary also expressed gratitude to his coach. “Sanjeev Mehrotra Sir has been my coach and a very integral part of my cricketing journey. He has supported me a lot, has given me a lot of motivation, and has put a lot of hard work behind me,” he said.
IPL Dream Restricted at Trials
Every Indian cricketer would dream of being a part of the IPL and Choudhary is no different. However, luck has not gone his way so far. The right-hander got a call for the trials from some of the IPL franchises but the occurrence of COVID-19 and some injury concerns put him out of contention.
“I got a call from RCB in 2019 and in the same year, I received a call from Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). But when I got the call from RCB, that was the time when COVID-19 came and the trials didn’t happen. Then in 2021, I got a call from Mumbai Indians, I went for the trials and I was there in the auction as well. But then, I had surgery due to a groin tear. I had ankle surgery and was out of action for one year,” Varun said.
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