Is Varun Chakravarthy becoming as vital as Jasprit Bumrah in India’s T20I setup? Analysing his impact and role.
Varun Chakravarthy’s T20I career is a great comeback story. He was handed India T20I cap after his success in Indian Premier League. However, he could not replicate the same performance at the international level initially. He bagged just two wickets in his first six T20Is and was dropped from the set-up in November 2021.
He made a comeback three years later in October 2024, and became an instant hit, bagging three wickets on his return. He continued his rich form and a year later, he is not only the No 1 T20I bowler in the cricketing world, but also the first-choice spinner for India in this format. It is safe to say that he is as indispensable as Jasprit Bumrah in T20Is for India.
Story of two halves
Varun’s T20I career is a true story of two halves. In the first year, he bagged just two wickets in six games. But on his comeback, he is going strong with 49 wickets in 26 T20Is.
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Here’s how Varun has performed in T20Is. (Stats till December 16, 2025)
| Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | 5-fiver | |
| Won | 21 | 35 | 15.77 | 7.07 | 0 |
| 2025 | 19 | 32 | 13.18 | 6.69 | 1 |
| Total | 32 | 51 | 15.00 | 6.74 | 2 |
In terms of most wickets in T20Is this year, he is fourth on the list with 32 wickets among Test-playing nations. But Varun enjoys the best bowling average among the top four, and the second-best economy rate.
Varun Chakravarthy, another name for consistency
Another important facet of Varun’s game is his consistency and his ability to pick up wickets irrespective of the opposition, conditions, and the pitch. Since his comeback in 2024, he has gone wicketless just twice in 26 games, compared to four times in the first six games of his T20I career. Therefore, he becomes the captain’s go-to man whenever the team need wickets. Varun’s penchant for wickets makes him the most-in-demand T20 bowler both for India and his IPL team.
Middle-overs wrecker
Varun has taken most of his wickets in the middle-overs when the field is spread out, and the batters look to consolidate while taking minimum risks. However, Varun turns this phase into the most productive one, inducing mistakes from the batters even when they don’t take the extra risk to score big.
For the record, Varun has taken 35 wickets at an average of 14.7 in the middle-overs. Therefore, he becomes the captain’s most lethal weapon during this phase to stall the opposition’s charge and momentum, and not allow them to run away with the game.
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What makes Varun so successful and indispensable?
Consistency with line and length, variations, and great game awareness make Varun a bankable T20 spinner. He bowls tight line and length; and rarely gives any width for batters to free their arms. He never bowls too full or too short for batters to go underneath for the lofted shots. Hence, it makes him a difficult bowler to score boundaries against.
Varun was deemed a mystery bowler when he first burst into the scene as he bowled the googly with his regular action, and foxed many batters with this variation alone. His googly, therefore, hard to read – both from his hand and the pitch. Moreover, Varun is not an one-skill bowler, he has plenty of variations in his kitty, making life difficult for batters facing him.
Most importantly, Varun has a good cricketing brain where he reads the batters’ movements, anticipates what they plan to do next, and bowls accordingly to induce errors. He is also extremely competitive and loves a challenge on his hands. He may get hit for a six or two, but bounces back quickly to have the last laugh. The ongoing T20I series against South Africa has seen Varun showcasing his range, with six wickets in three games so far.
What makes Varun Chakravarthy first-choice spinner in T20Is?
Similar to how Bumrah is the first-choice pacer for India across formats, Varun Chakravarthy has made his case as the first-choice spinner in T20Is ahead of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. While Axar is mostly seen as a batting all-rounder, Kuldeep has fallen behind in the queue after Varun’s rise. Even if the conditions demand three or more spinners, Varun gets the ball first to unleash his magic. Thanks to his consistency, variations, and penchant to pick up wickets, he becomes the captain’s go-to spinner in T20Is.
Varun’s way ahead
Varun has to continue performing and maintaining consistency to be ahead in the queue of the first-choice spinner in T20Is. With the World T20 title-defence coming up in a matter of days, India would need Varun at his lethal best in home conditions.
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