Varun Chakravarthy credited the time he spent at the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) to sharpen his skills, which also paved the way to a comeback to the Indian T20I side.

The leg-spinner registered career-best figures of 5/17 in the second T20I against South Africa in Gqeberha on Sunday, though that wasn’t enough in the end as Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee took the Proteas home with an over to spare.

However, on his part, Chakravarthy, having regained his form since this year’s IPL for champions Kolkata Knight Riders, seems on track to cementing his place in the XI with such noteworthy performances.

“Definitely, the last three years were a little tough,” the 33-year-old agreed. “The only thing I could do was play lots of cricket. And I started playing a lot in the domestic league (TNPL). That certainly helped me understand my game better. And that’s what helped me.”

Speaking of his spell that went close to clinching India a victory despite only 125 to defend, Chakravarthy acknowledged the need to have an aggressive mindset when defending low totals.

“During the innings break, Surya (captain Suryakumar Yadav) told us, ‘Let’s not think about the result and let’s just go all out.’ That’s what we tried to do. We did our best and we could have pulled it off.

“But obviously, the mindset has to be aggressive when the score is low. You have to pick up wickets and that’s only how we can win such matches.

“That has to be my approach in the next two games too, because they’re going to be do-or-die matches for us,” Chakravarthy said.

Such a showing against South Africa in their backyard should serve as a confidence booster for Chakravarthy going forward. “When we came to South Africa, we knew that it was going to be a challenging tour because the Proteas are one of the best teams right now and have a powerful batting line-up.

“Doing well against them definitely gives me motivation to do better and I surely can do so. Hopefully, I can do well in the upcoming games.”

The clarity that head coach Gautam Gambhir has provided Chakravarthy on his role for the team has also made matters easier for the spinner, he emphasised. “He (Gambhir) told me, ‘Even if you go for 30-40 runs, it doesn’t matter. All you have to do is look to take wickets. That’s your role for the team.’ So yeah, the clarity certainly helped.”