India, Feb. 14 -- For a long time, Varun Chakravarthy has been packaged as the mystery spinner batters are meant to decode. But as someone who seems to put a lot of thought into his bowling, he probably knows that mystery fades and so mastery must endure. And so, his process now is not so much about the novelty of his unseen variations but the perpetual refinement of what he already owns.

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, the surface didn't exactly misbehave but some deliveries did hold up, and the others kept low. It wasn't a turner but Varun found control and bowled a short but sharp spell of 2-0-7-3 that broke the back of the Namibia chase before they could gather any momentum. What stood out was Varun running in faster and bow...