Rajkot: India's star spinner Varun Chakaravarthy continued his purple patch after returning to the T20I side after nearly 3 years as he picked up his second 5-wicket haul in the shortest format of the game. He achieved an incredible feat during the third T20I of the five-match series against England on Tuesday, January 28.
With his second five-wicket haul, Varun became the only third Indian bowler to pick up multiple five-wicket hauls. He joined the elite list featuring chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Not the result #TeamIndia were looking for in Rajkot, but Varun Chakaravarthy put on a solid show with the ball to bag the Player of the Match award!
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 28, 2025
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Varun Chakravarthy also became the first bowler in T20 Internationals to take five-fers in two defeats. A total of 18 wickets fell in this T20I, the joint most in a T20I in India.
The mystery spinner dismissed England skipper Jos Buttler, Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer and played an instrumental role in restricting England from posting a 200+ run total after the visitors got off to a great start.
The 33-year-old claimed his first 5-wicket haul during the South Africa tour and has been sensational throughout the series so far. The spinner picked up 3 wickets in the first match, 2 in the match in Chennai and five in the 3rd, topping the leading wicket-taker of the series list.
Varun came into the bowl when Ben Duckett was smashing everything all over the park. The Indian spinner was able to tame the England opener. The spinner wasn't giving any margin to the batters and dismissed Buttler with a fine delivery, who went for a reverse sweep and ended up edging the ball with the gloves. However, the credit went to wicket-keeper Sanju Samson, who called for the review to be taken. This would trigger a collapse for the visitors, who started to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Double-wicket over 👌
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 28, 2025
Completion of fifer for Varun Chakaravarthy 👌
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Smith was the next victim for Varun as the spinner got his revenge after being hit for a six. Varun would clean up Overton off the very next ball and was on a hat-trick as India were in full control.
The mystery spinner would pick his final 2 wickets in his final over with Carse being the next victim as he was caught in the deep. Archer was completely bamboozled by Varun to complete his 5-wicket haul. The Indian spinner ended with figures of 5 for 24 in his 4 overs.
Varun also became the first Indian bowler to pick 10 wickets in a bilateral series between India and England. Varun would be aiming to improve his record for the most wickets in a bilateral series. He currently holds the record for picking up 12 wickets in just 4 matches against South Africa which was played last November.
