Varun Chakravarthy registered an unwanted record during the third T20I against England despite taking a five-wicket haul in a losing cause in Rajkot on Tuesday. Coming after back-to-back wins, India stumbled in chase in reply to England’s 171/9 to lose the game by 26 runs.
Opting to bowl first, Varun Chakravarthy was the wrecker-in-chief for India as the mystery spinner took two wickets in an over twice to inflict a middle-order collapse before Liam Livingstone’s late surge propelled the visitors past 150-run mark. Varun Chakravarthy finished with 5/24 from his four overs.
Interestingly, Varun Chakravarthy became the first bowler in T20Is to take five-wicket hauls in two defeats. The 33-year-old took his maiden five-wicket haul against South Africa last year, which India had lost. In the second T20I against South Africa, Varun Chakravarthy claimed 5/17 in his four overs, with India ending on the losing side.
Having taken five wickets in the first two matches, England batters have had struggled against Varun Chakravarthy in the series. Similar was the case in Rajkot. He went wicketless in his first over, conceding only three runs before striking with the big wicket of Jos Buttler in the ninth over.
He returned in the 14th over to dismiss Jamie Overton and Jamie Smith before scalping Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer in the 16th over. With 10 wickets so far in three games, Varun Chakravarthy also became the first cricketer to take 10 or more wickets in an India vs England T20I bilateral series. In fact, since his India comeback last year, the Tamil Nadu spinner has taken 27 wickets in 10 T20Is.
What’s next for Varun Chakravarthy?
After the Rajkot T20I, the Indian bandwagon will travel to Pune and Mumbai to play the fourth and fifth T20Is respectively. Despite the defeat in the third game, India enjoy a 2-1 lead and a win in Pune will seal the series for the Men in Blue.
