Siechem Madurai Panthers registered their first-ever win in the Sankar Cement-TNPL when they beat defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies by 26 runs in the ongoing 2018 edition at the ICL Sankar Nagar Ground in Tirunelveli on Monday, July 16.

A key contributor to the win was ‘mystery’ spinner Varun Chakravathi, who returned figures of 3-16.

Excerpts from a chat:

On his spell of 3-16…

My role in the team is to contain runs. I try to bowl as many dot balls as possible and build pressure on the batsmen. Tonight the pitch was helpful and they had to score quick, so it helped me in getting wickets.

On his ‘mystery’ bowling…

I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket in my early days. There I picked up the skill of bowling off-cutters and leg-cutters with the same action. I was very successful with those deliveries and I continued.

Playing alongside Rahil Shah…

He has a lot of first-class cricket experience and I try to learn as much as possible from him. I pick his brain constantly.

Finally a win for Siechem Madurai Panthers…

It feels great to win here tonight. We made a lot many mistakes in our first game and we had to pay for it. Now that we have won in such convincing fashion, hopefully, we will continue the winning streak.