Varun, who had fallen off the radar after 2021, broke into the Indian team on the back of a stellar show in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders. He was instrumental in the Gautam Gambhir-mentored side lifting the title at his home ground in Chennai.

Since then, he had to wait for his chance and it eventually came for this series. The spinner grabbed the chance with both hands, taking three wickets — Arshdeep took as much as the visitors could only manage 127. In response, India got there in just 11.15 overs.

“After three long years, it was definitely emotional for me,” Varun told broadcasters, before adding, “After IPL, I played a few tournaments and one of those was the TNPL. That’s a place where I worked a lot, with Ash bhai (R Ashwin) also. It was good preparation for me for this series.” Brief scores: B’desh 127 in 19.5 ovs (Arshdeep 3/14, Varun 3/31) lost to India 132/3 in 11.5 ovs (Hardik 39 n.o).