Varun Chakaravarthy credits Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya after 5-star performance against New Zealand

I was nervous and emotional ahead of first spell, but chat with seniors calmed me down: Varun. (Photo: ICC)

Varun Chakaravarthy erased his painful Dubai memories with a match-winning five-wicket haul against New Zealand but the India spinner admitted feeling "nervous" ahead of his opening spell due to the "emotions" running through his mind.

The 33-year-old had figures of 4 for 33 in a 10-wicket drubbing by Pakistan during the 2021 T20 world Cup here, but four years later he registered 5 for 42 as India defeated New Zealand by 44 runs in the Champions Trophy to top group A on Sunday.

"In 2021, I didn’t have a great tournament here. But it looks good right now. I was a little nervous ahead of my first spell (vs NZ). The emotions were playing (in mind) because of whatever happened three years before at this ground," said Chakravarthy in the post-match press conference.

Chakravarthy, who replaced rested Harshit Rana in the playing eleven, said a chat by the senior pros helped him to "calm down." "They (emotions) were playing with me and I was trying to keep it down, control it. But Virat bhai, Rohit and Hardik, were telling me to calm down. They were coming and talking to me. That really helped," he added.

Once settled down, Chakaravarthy, who made his ODI debut against England last month, had to find a way to shift through the spells unlike in T20Is where he largely bowls four overs on the trot.

"In T20s, my sequencing of balls as in how I construct an over is totally different compared to the 50-over format. I was able to figure it out when I played the last two years in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. It really helped me to understand when I can bowl my incoming delivery or outgoing delivery or the straighter one or the top spin. It is completely different from what I do in the T20s," he said.

The DICS pitch had considerable assistance for spinners, and Chakaravarthy said he was judicious in using his bottomless bag of tricks.

"It was not a rank turner which people were projecting it to be. But definitely it was holding on a bit, and it was deviating a little bit just to create the doubt. So, basically, you had to play around it. I would also dedicate my five wickets to the other bowlers as the way they bowled helped me pick wickets," he noted.

Patience was another key component for Chakaravarthy while bowling on such pitches.

"It is a patience game. You just need to wait on such slow wickets as the ball doesn't turn fast. So, you need to wait," he said.