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Varun keen to maintain the mystery as he makes compelling semi-final case

"Sir, basically the ball goes inside, outside and goes straight. So, you can keep it that way but there are minute changes that you can do with that also."
From a mystery spinner, you can understand the secrecy. In fact, it's kind of a boss move.
Varun, by his own reckoning, did not consider cricket a serious professional endeavour until he was 26. "Before that, my dreams were all being an architect and making movies. So, I've had different career paths."
And yet here the guy is, at 33, taking 5 for 42 in the second ODI he has ever played, making a very serious case for his inclusion in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, which is also likely to be played on a used surface that is likely to favour him. Varun is an IPL graduate, having played only a single first-class match.
He explained how he figured out how to bowl in 50-over cricket, having initially come from the T20 world.
"In T20, my sequencing of balls - as in how I construct an over - is totally different compared to the 50-over format," Varun said. "And that I was able to figure out when I played the last two years in Vijay Hazare Trophy [India's main domestic one-day tournament]. And it really helped me to understand when I can bowl my incoming delivery or outgoing delivery or the straighter one or the top spin - whatever it is. But that gave me a sense of awareness of when to bowl what. It is completely different from what I do in the T20."
In this match against New Zealand, Varun said he didn't feel a ton of pressure, because of the presence of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
But there is also the pressure not to reveal what he has in store for teams about to face him in the rest of the tournament. Or even for teams that will face him in the IPL to follow. Varun is not giving out trade secrets to any of these fellows, even if they happen to be in his own team.
"But he has got something different which is why he is here with us. He has been impressive in the last eight to nine months. That is why we wanted to bring him here and see what he has and what he can do for India on the big stage."
What he has done for India on the big stage is suggest he should have more ODI appearances, particularly on used pitches. The surface for the semi-final against Australia will likely be on the same pitch they had played Pakistan on.
Varun, who didn't play in India's first two Champions Trophy matches, has now made himself very difficult to drop.
NZ replace injured Hayley Jensen with Fran Jonas for ODIs against Sri Lanka

Kumble: 'Exceptional' Varun has consistently won matches in last one year

"I think Varun has been exceptional in the last 1-1.5 years, consistently winning matches for whichever team he has played for, whether it's Tamil Nadu or KKR or for India in T20Is," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day. "And now, today, getting an opportunity [in ODIs], because obviously India had already qualified.
"But going by the pitch and the conditions perhaps for the semi-final and hopefully for India, the final, this certainly augurs well.
"And if this is the kind of pitch India will continue to play on in Dubai, then this four-pronged spin attack would be really a challenge for any team. Australia would find it extremely difficult to maneuver these four spinners."
With New Zealand chasing 250, Varun first cleaned up Will Young. Then, he returned towards the end of the middle overs to get important middle-order wickets of Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell in consecutive overs before also removing Mitchell Santner, who was looking threatening with a boundary and two sixes. One ball later, he dismissed Matt Henry to complete his five-for. India wrapped up the game in the next over.
Varun's only other ODI appearance came in the three-match series against England preceding the Champions Trophy, where he finished with figures of 1 for 52.
After Sunday's match, Varun said he was nervous early on but talking to the seniors helped him calm down. "I found out last night [that he was going to play]," he said. "I was expecting to play for the country and looking forward to it, but on the other side I was feeling a little nervous because I've not played a lot for India in ODIs.
"But as the game started progressing, I felt better. Virat was talking to me, Rohit bhai
TCU completes turnaround with 1st Big 12 title

WACO, Texas -- Those "Underfrogs" from TCU, a team that won only one conference game two seasons ago and last season needed open tryouts to fill roster spots after a series of injuries, are now outright women's Big 12 champions.
The title-clinching game couldn't have been more fitting for the 10th-ranked Horned Frogs, a 51-48 win Sunday night at 13-time champion and No. 17 Baylor.
"Baylor's been the powerhouse, the juggernaut in our league for a long time," second-year TCU coach Mark Campbell said. "So to beat them in this environment for this kind of game, it just shows you that our program's arrived at the highest level in college basketball. ... This win carries a lot of significance for many reasons."
TCU (28-3, 16-2 Big 12), which is in its 13th Big 12 season, won a regular-season title for the first time since being in the Mountain West in 2010.
Sedona Prince had 16 points and 19 rebounds for her 13th double-double this season and Hailey Van Lith scored 14 points as the Frogs beat Baylor (25-6, 15-3) again, five weeks after an 80-75 win at home that was their first win over their instate rival in 35 years.
TCU was off to a 14-0 start in Campbell's debut last season when Prince broke her finger in the opening seconds of a 71-50 loss in the team's last game at Baylor.
A couple of weeks after that, with top shooter Madison Conner also hurt, the Frogs were down to six scholarship players and forfeited two games the week they were having tryouts on campus.
"That was kind of the start of really the downfall of our season last year. And it was so heartbreaking, and it started here. You know, that bus ride from Waco back to Fort Worth was really, really rough," said Prince, this time wearing a Big 12 championship T-shirt.
"Coming in here, we've worked, built our team back up, recovered and got some new amazing pieces in," she said. "It's really, really cool that, you know, it happened to be here, last conference game of the season. Yeah, it's just very, very special."
This 90-mile trip home this time was much more enjoyable, with something to celebrate before opening Big 12 tournament play in the quarterfinal round in Kansas City on Friday. After that, the Frogs will open the women's NCAA tournament on their home floor, where they are 19-0 this season.
The regular-season finale, not only for the two teams but the Big 12 overall, was the first winner-take-all game in the league's 29 seasons.
"There have been so many times postgame when I get to come in here and, oh, it's the first time we've done this and it's the first time we've done that," Campbell said. "Well, this tops all of them. To win a league title for TCU and to bring that trophy home, it's a little surreal."
The Frogs will make their 10th NCAA tournament appearance, the first since their last conference title 15 years ago. They have never gotten past the second round.
TCU takes a seven-game winning streak into the postseason, and already has the most wins in school history. Along with two wins over Baylor, the Frogs this season beat Atlantic Coast Conference co-champions No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 9 NC State.
"Obviously, we worked so hard this whole season for this moment," Conner said. "Not only for this moment, for March and this year, so this is just a start. But yeah, we definitely celebrate a little bit."
J. Hughes exits Devils' 2-0 loss after collision

New Jersey Devils star center Jack Hughes exited his team's 2-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night, after a collision in the third period.
With his team trailing 2-0, Hughes and his brother, New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes, entered the Vegas zone on a 2-on-1. As Jack Hughes neared the Golden Knights goal, his feet appeared to get tangled with Vegas forward Jack Eichel, eventually tumbling to the ice and into the boards behind the net with 1:48 left in the game.
"Real hard to see him go down. There's no update," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "He's going to have to be evaluated. Obviously, it didn't look good. We're going to have to take our time to know the full extent of it."
Keefe, arguing that the collision with Eichel could have been called for a tripping minor, was given a game misconduct, as the Devils fell to 2-2 on a five-game trip that concludes Tuesday against the Dallas Stars.
"It was a similar play that [Hughes] got called on earlier in the period. Not only is he injured on the play, but there's no call," he said. "I get kicked off the bench for telling the referee I felt it was 10 times worse than the one previously called on Jack."
Hughes, 23, is a former No. 1 pick who leads the Devils in goals (27) and points (70) this season. New Jersey has struggled offensively in the new calendar year, and any absence from the team's best overall player might alter its plans headed into Friday's trade deadline.
Hughes sat out 20 games last season because of injury, and finished with 74 points as the Devils failed to qualify for the postseason. The season before, he played in 78 and posted a career-high 99 points as New Jersey took the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division and advanced to the second round.
Incidentally, Eichel and Hughes were teammates last month, skating for the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

NEW YORK -- Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was fined $25,000 on Sunday for throwing the game ball into the stands at the end of the third quarter of Friday night's home loss to the New York Knicks.
Morant angrily flung the ball across the court and into the seats with the Grizzlies leading 88-82 at the end of the period. He was assessed a technical foul.
New York rallied for a 114-113 victory.
Morant is averaging 20.9 points and 7.4 assists this season. Memphis entered Sunday in fourth place in the Western Conference.
Three ejected after scuffle as Thunder beat Spurs

SAN ANTONIO -- A testy third-quarter scuffle nearly erupted into a full-blown fight Sunday, resulting in three ejections, during the Oklahoma City Thunder's 146-132 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
"We had an altercation?" Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams asked jokingly during his postgame interview on the court with ESPN. "It made us refocus, figure out what's important."
Officials issued double technicals to Kenrich Williams and Julian Champagnie as well as Jeremy Sochan and Lu Dort after the incident. Williams, Champagnie and Dort were ejected.
With three minutes left in the third quarter, Williams was elbowed in the jaw while guarding Champagnie as he passed to Stephon Castle, who found Sochan cutting under the basket for a two-handed dunk. As that play unfolded, Williams and Champagnie stood near the scorer's table, shoving each other.
"When people are aggressive, there are a lot of coincidental elbows or contact," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "I don't really know who was at fault, to be honest. But it just looked like that was what initiated it. And then there was the response on both ends. [It] just looked like Kenrich Williams was being aggressive, and Julian was opening up. I don't know if that's an offensive foul now. I don't know where that line is of what space you're allowed."
Players, officials, security personnel and coaches from both teams rushed to break up the scuffle. But the situation escalated as Sochan and Dort grabbed each other in a scrum that involved more than 10 people, including Castle, De'Aaron Fox, Keldon Johnson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins.
"I went for a dunk, and then all I see is just everyone going to one spot," Sochan said while smiling. "So, like I had to go to the same spot. It was a little scuffle. I think it was pretty playful. It wasn't anything too serious. Yeah, it kind of evolved. I had to react a little bit in the playful scuffle."
NBA official James Williams announced the play was "under review for an altercation that does not dissolve." After the review, Williams issued the double technicals and ejections. Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said Dort was ejected for something he said during the scuffle. Dort's words were not directed at the officials, the coach added.
"We have not been a team that's retaliated very much," Daigneault said. "We retaliated tonight. We have the worst free throw differential in the NBA. So, more fouls are being called on us than are being called on our opponents. I think there's a cumulative frustration, and I think our guys finally got to a point where they had had enough. We have to have better poise. We don't want to lose rotation players in big games as a result of that. We've done a great job of that for a long period of time, and I just think the cumulative effect of the pummeling we take on some plays boiled over in that situation."
Kenrich Williams went scoreless in 10 minutes, while Dort contributed nine points, nine rebounds and a steal in helping Oklahoma City capture its third straight victory. Champagnie tallied eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.
On Jalen Williams' Instagram, he posted a picture of Dort in the locker room and jokingly referred to him as "1st team all crashout."
"I got the explanation from James Williams," Daigneault said. "If James Williams wants to eject him for that, I think it's justified. Again, the issue I have with that is I've heard with my own ears in the last two weeks other players say similar or worse things to officials with no response. The officials are saying we're calibrating to the emotion of the game. Great. If we're calibrating with one player, we should be calibrating with Lu Dort. If there's zero tolerance for Lu Dort, there should be zero tolerance to everybody. They've got to figure that out."

Sacramento Kings star center Domantas Sabonis suffered a grade 1 left hamstring strain in Saturday's win over the Houston Rockets and will be out indefinitely, the team announced on Sunday.
An update will be provided on his status in one week, according to the team.
Sabonis was running down the court about a minute into Saturday's game when he pulled up and grabbed his left hamstring. He left and did not return.
Sabonis entered Saturday's matchup averaging 19.9 points, 14.4 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game.
In the wake of the former All-Star's injury, the Kings are signing center Skal Labissiere from their Stockton NBA G League affiliate to a 10-day contract, his agent Daniel Hazan of Hazan Sports told ESPN's Shams Charania.
This makes multiple stints with the Kings for Labissiere after he was Sacramento's No. 28 pick in the 2016 NBA draft. Labissiere has averaged 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds in the G League.
The Kings will be without Sabonis in the midst of a tight race to get out of the Western Conference's play-in tournament. Sacramento entered Monday night half a game back of the LA Clippers for the No. 6 seed.

Former New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler joined the Milwaukee Brewers as a special adviser for scouting and baseball operations, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Brewers hadn't announced the hire. SNY first reported Eppler was headed to Milwaukee on Sunday.
Eppler was suspended last year after a Major League Baseball investigation concluded he directed Mets staff to fabricate injuries to create open roster spots, but that punishment expired after the 2024 World Series.
He resigned as the Mets' general manager in October 2023 amid that investigation, three days after owner Steve Cohen hired David Stearns as president of baseball operations. Stearns held the president of baseball operations title with the Brewers before stepping down at the end of the 2022 season.
Eppler joined the Mets in November 2021 after working as the Los Angeles Angels' general manager from 2015 to 2020. The Mets went 101-61 and earned a National League wild-card playoff berth in 2022 but slumped to 75-87 the following year despite a $355 million payroll at the start of that season.
Eppler also has worked in scouting and player development with the Colorado Rockies and as the New York Yankees' director of professional scouting and assistant general manager.
He joins a Brewers organization that's chasing a third straight NL Central title. Matt Arnold, selected as MLB's executive of the year last season, has been the Brewers' president of baseball operations since October 2022 after serving as Stearns' collaborator.

JUPITER, Fla. -- St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Zack Thompson has a lat strain and will be shut down for three to four weeks.
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters of the Grade 1 strain Sunday. He said Thompson will be reevaluated at the end of that time frame.
Thompson was 0-2 with a 9.53 ERA in five games for St. Louis last season. He pitched in one game this spring, walking one in a scoreless inning Monday.
Thompson, 27, is 6-10 with a 4.50 ERA in 52 appearances in his three-year career.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.