IND vs ENG, 3rd T20I: Varun Chakravarthy Makes a Historic Achievement, First Player to Do This Against England

India vs England, 4th T20I: In the third T20I, the Indian cricket team faced a 26-run defeat at the hands of England. Chasing a target of 172, Indian batsmen struggled against the English bowlers. However, Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy made a significant achievement during the match. Varun Chakravarthy continued his outstanding form in international cricket and broke Kuldeep Yadav’s record for most wickets taken by an Indian spinner in T20I matches. Against England, Chakravarthy wreaked havoc on the field. Since making his return to the team last year, Chakravarthy has been a successful bowler for the T20I squad, with his last appearance for India coming in 2021. In the third T20I, Chakravarthy shone with figures of 5/24 from four overs. He took the wickets of England’s captain Jos Buttler, Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, and Jofra Archer, which completely derailed England’s progress from 83/1 to 127/8. Chakravarthy’s total wickets now stand at 29. Since his return to the T20I team last year, he has played 10 matches, taking 27 wickets at an average of 10.96, an economy rate of 7.40, and a best bowling performance of 5/17. After 16 matches, he has claimed 29 wickets at an average of 14.65, with an impressive economy rate of 6.84.

Varun Chakravarthy has now become the first player to take 10 wickets in a single bilateral T20I series between India and England. With his five wickets in this match, Chakravarthy surpassed Kuldeep Yadav (25 wickets) for the most wickets by an Indian spinner in a 10-match T20I series. Globally, he is now ranked third, behind Sijarul Idres (Malaysia, 28 wickets) and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (30 wickets). As for the match, India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Despite a solid partnership of 76 runs between Ben Duckett (51 runs from 28 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and captain Buttler (24 runs from 22 balls, with one four and one six), England lost wickets regularly to India’s spinners. Even though Liam Livingstone (43 runs from 28 balls, including one four and five sixes) fought hard, England managed only 171/9 in their 20 overs. Chakravarthy (5/24) was the most successful bowler for India, while Hardik Pandya took two wickets. Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel each claimed one wicket.