He registered his second five-wicket haul in the game, ending with the figures read: 4-0-24-5 to leave England reeling.
Varun Chakravarthy spun his web again during the third T20I between India and England in Rajkot, making English batters succumb to his superior variations. He bowled tight lines and lengths again, and the opponent couldn’t pick him from the hands and kept falling one after another.
He registered his second five-wicket haul in the game, ending with the figures read: 4-0-24-5 to leave England reeling. With this five-for, Varun has joined an elite list of Indian bowlers, achieved by only two other players.
He becomes only the third Indian bowler after Kuldeep Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to have two five-wicket hauls in the shortest format. He has taken only 16 innings to reach this milestone, which shows how threatening he has been in this format.
Varun took his first five-for against South Africa in Gqeberha in November last year and today got his second to go into the record books. Two other bowlers – Yuzvendra Chahal (vs England in 2017) and Deepak Chahar (vs Bangladesh in 2019) – have taken a five-wicket haul each in T20Is.
India have several quality players in the shortest format who have been consistent and offer different values. Four played in this third T20I against England – Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, and Varun Chakravarthy.
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Still, India have their biggest weapon in Kuldeep Yadav out of the squad, which makes the competition stiff for all spinners. However, Varun Chakravarthy should remain in the main XI, even after Kuldeep returns to the side.
He is their biggest wicket-taker and can do the job on any surface, as visible since his comeback in this format. Varun brings that mystery factor, and his variations are too hard to spot from the hands, making even the best spin players succumb.
There’s no justification to keep him out of the T20I side, and Varun’s presence will provide India with two authentic wicket-takers in the middle overs. Varun and Kuldeep can be a pair that can rule the roost in the coming years and help India defend the T20 World Cup next year.
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