When India crashed out of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Varun Chakravarthy’s international career seemed to have ignited alongwith; but like any phoenix that flies too close to the sun, the spinner has risen again. After five wickets in the first two T20Is, Varun stole the show in Rajkot with aplomb.
India showed the grit of true world champions to rein England back from 83/1 in the ninth over to 127/8 by the end of the 16th at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Tuesday and the one man largely responsible for the recovery was Varun Chakravarthy. The mystery spinner triggered the collapse by nicking off Jos Buttler, added Harry Brook to his kitty for the second, and outdid namesakes Jamie Smith and Overton on consecutive deliveries in the penultimate over of his quota. However, with an elusive international fifer on the horizon, Varun wa slurking for a fifth and eventually claimed it in style to cap off a potentially match winning performance.
Chakravarthy had Jofra Archer in his sights on the final ball of the 16th over and with Liam Livingstone still going gung-ho at the other end, all the pacer was expected to do was defend. The guily spinner lured him into doing just that with a flighted length delivery on fourth stump, drawing Archer forward into a big stride with the bat away from his body, before the googly spun sharply to pierce the huge gap between bat and pad and rattle into the off-stump. Archer was left with his mouth agape upon beigng flummoxed as he stared at the pitch and then at Livingstone in disbelief, sheepily enquiring from the non-striker what just happened while Varun wheeled away in celebration.
Twitterati was all applause for Varun’s efforts and wasted no time in offering congratulations for figures of 5/24.
Mystery spinner!
Brilliant spinner!
VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY – THE UNSTOPPABLE MAN SINCE HIS COMEBACK. 🙇♂️🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Si8plYJq8l
— Cricket fanatic (@CricguyRohan07) January 28, 2025
Mystery spinner on top😎🔥
Five wicket haul for varun chakravarthy against england🏴🥶#INDvENG #indvsengt20 #varunchakravarthy pic.twitter.com/LsOra5ZNEq— Abhijeet Bandgar (@ABandgar17) January 28, 2025
Great day for him!
Yeah!
What a terrific spell by Varun Chakravarthy ! Well done man. #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/eqwMZnEkX3
— Bodhan Biswas 🇮🇳 (@bodhan11) January 28, 2025
Varun Chakravarthy in this T20I series vs England:
4-0-23-3
4-0-38-2
4-0-24-5
He has 10 wickets in 3 matches in this series.#INDvsENG #INDvENG #EngvInd #engvsind #varunChakravarthy pic.twitter.com/5BkIC31OH2— Akr_Cric (@Akr_cric) January 28, 2025
Good day at office to him!
He is the man!
five-wicket haul for Varun Chakravarthy! #varunchakravarthy #INDvENG #rajkot #CricketUpdates #fivewicket pic.twitter.com/5nAJ550qex
— Sanjay Saran (@sanjay_saran01) January 28, 2025
