Tamil Nadu spinner Varun Chakravarthy made his debut for Team India in July in a T20I against Sri Lanka. He talked about the opportunity and how it felt 'surreal' to don the blue jersey.

Chakravarthy, who made it to the Indian squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup, had missed out of the Indian squad a couple of times before finally making his debut. He was picked for Australia tour in 2020 and series against England at home earlier this year, but he was later excluded after failing the fitness test.

ALSO READ: T20 World Cup 2021: Dinesh Karthik names Varun Chakravarthy as a X-factor for Team India

Speaking to Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel, Chakravarthy said, "The day after I made my debut, I could not sleep. It was surreal, I could not get over it. Had butterflies in my stomach, I could not sleep the day before my debut as well. Compared to IPL, the feel is definitely different when representing the country. I could sense I had to play with responsibility."

The 30-year-old had pursued architecture before resuming professional cricket in 2018. He had even started his own firm and worked in the movie industry before his cricket career got back on the right path.

"I did my architecture course from 2007-12, then worked at a firm for 2 years and then started my own firm. After that, I felt like doing something different. I spent a year in the movie industry like acting and direction and all that. All of that did not work for me, then I thought of playing cricket again. There was a lot of pressure from home when I decided to start playing cricket again," he revealed.

Chakravarthy was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2020 IPL season, and he picked up 17 wickets in 13 games, including a five-wicket haul against Delhi Capitals.