Varun Chakravarthy has been a tough challenge for England's batters in the ongoing five-match T20I series in India.
The spinner has picked up 10 wickets in the first three matches, including superb figures of 5/24 in the third T20I in Rajkot. However, his efforts went in vain as the Indian batters faltered in the chase, with England winning by 26 runs to stay alive in the series.
Chakravarthy, 33, spun a web around the English batters in the middle overs, striking at key moments. He dismissed a well-set Jos Buttler in his second over, who was given out on the review after wicketkeeper Sanju Samson took a sharp catch after the England captain missed the reverse sweep.
He then left England reeling with a double strike in his third over, dismissing Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton off successive deliveries.
In a tactical move, Captain Suryakumar Yadav preferred to use the in-form Chakravarthy across four different spells.
Returning to bowl in the 16th over, the Tamil Nadu spinner repeated the dose as he struck twice in his final over. He had Brydon Carse caught at square leg before he cleaned up Jofra Archer with a superb googly, which deceived the England right-hander all ends up to bowl him for a duck.
Interestingly, both of Chakravarthy's five-wicket hauls in T20 Internationals have come in losing causes. He had taken a career-best 5/17 against South Africa in Gqeberha in November last year but South Africa managed to register a three-wicket victory in a low-scoring contest.
'I can't complain because that's the nature of the game. There have been times, even when I don't take five wickets, we might end up losing. So, I can't complain,' he said.
Even though this was his second best career figures in T20 Internationals, Chakravarthy wasn't fully satisfied.
'Maybe on this stage, the best I have bowled, but I can definitely get better going forward,' he said.
Ever since he returned to the Indian team last year in October last year, Chakravarthy has proved to be unstoppable, picking up 27 wickets in 10 matches at a remarkable average of 10.96, while conceding runs at 7.40.
It has been an unbelievable turnaround for the leg-spinner, who had struggled in his first stint with the Indian team, with just two wickets in six games.
He went wicketless in three matches in the T20 World Cup before he was sidelined for nearly three years before making a stunning comeback.
The two Phases Of Chakravarthy's Career:
| Games | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Average | Economy Rate | Strike Rate | Best | 5WI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | 22.3 | 132 | 2 | 66.00 | 5.86 | 67.5 | 1/18 | 0 |
| 2024-25 | 10 | 40 | 296 | 27 | 10.96 | 7.40 | 8.8 | 5/17 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 16 | 62.3 | 428 | 28 | 14.75 | 6.84 | 12.9 | 5/17 | 2 |
The key for Chakravarthy was identifying what went wrong during his first stint with the Indian team, which helped him improve overall as a bowler.
'After the 2021 World Cup, I analysed my bowling and what I found was I was bowling more sidespin, and I wasn't being able to beat the batsmen through sidespin,' he told Star Sports after the first T20I in Kolkata last week.
'I worked out that I need to beat them with bounce. Then I started working with overspin. If it bounces more, the chances are I can get it to spin more.'
He played a pivotal role in Kolkata Knight Riders' IPL triumph last year, picking up 21 wickets in 15 matches but surprisingly didn't make the cut for the T20 World Cup.
However, once he got back in the team for the Bangladesh series in October there was no looking back.
The spinner revealed that refining his flipper and working on consistency has paid off in his second coming.
'As in, even if I can bowl a ball -- a stock ball, I need to keep working on it, keep pushing it. I need to get nine on ten consistency. That work is always there. So, right now my focus is on consistency and line and length.'
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