Recently concluded Ranji Trophy marked the end of Varun Aaron's career

Do you know I waited 22 years for my first World Cup Trophy?: Sachin

The very next ball, I got Darren Bravo out: Varun Aaron

The end of the 2023/2024 season of Ranji Trophy marked the end of the cricketing career of pacer Varun Aaron. Varun Aaron was a prospective talent in the early 2010s but did not consistently get chances. In an interview with BCCI, he recalled an incident involving Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar in his test debut. “We were playing at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a really flat wicket, and the West Indies were 500 something for four. And I was really down. I was 21 years old and had never bowled 21 overs without a wicket. Sachin Tendulkar was standing at mid-off, he looked at me and asked, ‘why are you looking so down?’ I was like, you know what, Paaji, I’ve never bowled 21 overs for no wickets. I can’t believe this is happening on my debut. He’s like, come here. We stopped mid-over and he said, ‘Do you know I waited 22 years for my first World Cup Trophy? So you can wait 21 overs for your first wicket, there’s no problem with that. Please come down to earth and get bowling,” Varun recalled. 

After this piece of advice, Varun managed to quickly grab 3 wickets within his next 4 overs in turn triggering a collapse that reduced West Indies from 518/4 to 590 all out. “I was like, Man, seriously, that makes so much sense. The very next ball, I got Darren Bravo (166) out, caught behind. Then got two other wickets – Carlton Baugh and Daren Sammy. And that just changed my debut. Just a few words from Sachin Tendulkar. I had also induced an edge off Marlon Samuels, but it was dropped,” Varun added.