Varun Chakaravarthy caps off his remarkable return with a massive record

Varun Chakaravarthy returned to the Indian side in the Bangladesh home series after a long hiatus after the 2021 T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. The Tamil Nadu spinner made full use of that opportunity by picking up 12 wickets in the next series against South Africa, which is the most for any Indian bowler in a bilateral T20I series. 

Notably, he was also the leading wicket-taker in the series, which India won 3-1. 

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He began the four-match series on a bright note by picking up three wickets for just 25 runs in his four overs, as India won that game by 61 runs. While Sanju Samson was adjudged the Player of the Match, Chakaravarthy’s spell broke the back of the Proteas chase by dismissing Ryan Rickleton, Heinrich Klassen and David Miller.

He upped his performance in the second T20I, picking up five wickets for just 17 runs in what was a thriller of a game that the Proteas won by three wickets. The spinner had put hard yard in domestic cricket, worked on his overspin, and the resultant dip that he could impart on his deliveries made him hard to face even on tracks that weren’t suited to spin bowling. His variations were coming out well, and his wrong-uns were quite threatening throughout the series. 

He picked four more wickets in the next two games and ended up with 12 wickets in the series, thereby more or less cementing his place in the Indian team , at least for now. 

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