England & Varun Chakravarthy. Pic Credits: X

IND vs ENG : Varun Chakravarthy’s Classy 5-Fer In Vain; England Keep Series Alive With Clinical Bowling Display

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Varun Chakravarthy grinned as he was called to receive the Player of the Match award in India’s 3rd T20I against England. Rajkot marked the second instance where, despite picking up a rare 5-wicket haul in T20I cricket, Varun Chakravarthy found himself on the wrong side of the result. In fact, he is the only player in T20I history to have lost both matches after taking a 5-wicket haul.

Varun Chakravarthy’s current T20I numbers are reminiscent of Jasprit Bumrah’s incredible showing in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where Bumrah picked up 15 wickets at a staggering average of 8.26. Varun Chakravarthy has played 10 T20Is since 2024, with an average of just over 10. His form has only improved in 2025, where he currently averages 8.50 after the first two matches of the year. Like Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy  has become the go-to bowler, capable of taking a wicket every time he steps onto the field.

A disciplined bowling attack, to follow up on Ben Duckett’s second T20I half-century, helped England to a 26-run victory over India, in Rajkot, on Tuesday. With this win, England cut India’s lead to 2-1 in the five-match series.

Pitch Report and Toss

Pitch Report : The surface here will be good for batting with quick outfield and shorter boundaries. There will be plenty of runs on offer. Both teams will prefer chasing at this venue. The average first innings total in the five T20Is played here is 189, with India scoring 228 for 5 against Sri Lanka the last time they played in Rajkot.

There were also plenty of 170-plus totals in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches held here in November-December. The pitch itself looked rather pale without much grass. All these suggest a high-scoring encounter is on the cards. The chasing sides have had a better success rate in T20 games played in Rajkot.

Toss : Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss for the third time and chose to bowl with fit Mohammad Shami coming in for rested Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. England skipper Jos Buttler batting first made no changes in the playing XI.

Varun Chakravarthy’s 2nd 5-fer helps India restrict England on 172 runs despite runs  from Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone

The visitors had hoped that their counter-attack would eventually be able to outwit India. They tried, and somewhere till the end of the ninth over, it looked good. Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett in the middle, and 83 for 1 on the board. And then, a new but by-now-old nemesis emerged – Varun Chakravarthy. This time, with a ball lower than Buttler had anticipated, which was eventually undercut to the wicketkeeper.

Till the time Buttler and Ben Duckett were in the middle, the conditions for batting seemed pleasant. In a matter of seven deliveries in the fourth and fifth over especially, bowled by Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar respectively, Duckett clubbed five boundaries and a six. Buttler didn’t find similar acceleration in his innings but after reverse-sweeping Bishnoi for a boundary in the seventh hope, he launched a tossed up delivery by the leggie over the long on fence.

England Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
England Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

But against Varun Chakravarthy, it was a different story for the English batters. At sea against the wily variations of the spinner, Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton departed in successive deliveries in the 14th over. In the last over of his spell, Brydon Carse flicked him to the fielder at deep square leg, and Jofra Archer was cleaned up with a google. In a matter of seven overs from since Buttler’s departure, the visitors slid to 127 for 8, with Varun Chakravarthy finishing his four-over spell with five wickets to his credit.

India Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
India Bowling Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Varun has every pyrotechnic in his repertoire, even though he relies more on over-spun wrong-uns with snappy drift and dip, shrewd change of pace (from 90 kph to 112), sliders, and seam-up straighteners (that foxed Jos Buttler and precipitated a collapse, from 83 for 1 to 127 for 7) these days. He doesn’t deal in mystery balls, but the mystery-halo shimmers around his crew-cut head.

Fellow spinners – Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi also joined Varun Chakravarthy’s party and threw England off their momentum completely. Duckett mistimed a slog off Axar to mid on and Harry Brook under edged a sweep off Bishnoi on to his stumps. Liam Livingstone’s late assault, a 24-ball 43, offered some respite.

He slogged Bishnoi for three sixes in the 17th over, but departed in the next over. England’s last two batters, Adil Rashid and Mark Wood negotiated in the remaining deliveries in their innings to help them to a respectable 171 for 8 – slightly more competitive and eventually match-winning.

Adil Rashid  and Jamie Overton powers England’s 26 runs victory over India

The contest, which seemed slightly in India’s favour courtesy Abhishek Sharma’s early assault, got a bit more exciting when Suryakumar Yadav top-edged a scoop flick to Phil Salt in the last over of the powerplay, reducing India to 48 for 3. By then, his enterprising strokeplay and Abhishek Sharma’s cameo were undone by the dismissal of the duo along with Sanju Samson, leading India early into a rebuilding phase.

Adil Rashid doesn’t exude wonderment. A man of mild manners, stifled celebrations, with no tattoos blaring from his sleeves, he operates in incognito mode. His presence is so inconspicuous — no tantrums or strut — that he is noticed when he breaks into a stroll disguised as his four-step run-up. But he is arguably the finest white-ball spinner his country ever owned. More remarkably, he is one of the handful who possess the leg-break

Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma handled the situation calmly, but the Indian batters too were put to test against Adil Rashid’s spin. With turn on offer in the surface, the leggie used his variations in pace to excellent effect. Varma was undone by a sharply turning legbreak that beat him on the inside edge and cleaned him up in the ninth over.

India Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
India Batting Line Up. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Most leg-spinners in the T20-multiverse trade in wrong ’uns and sliders. So much so that the away-spinner is a rare change-up even for left-arm spinners, whose currency is the armer. The Indian leg-spin duo of Ravi Bishnoi and Varun is a classic example of leg-spinners, by natural instinct, breaking the ball into the right-handed batsman. Rashid, however, is a throwback. Not that he is averse to wrong ’uns or sliders — he judiciously unlocks his variations — but in his pliant wrists, the leg-break has rediscovered itself in this format.

He uncorked a pearler to eject Tilak Varma, unconquered in his last four outings. The ball, generously imparted with revolutions, drifted away from the left-hander. The scrambled seam, and the pace (82.7 kph), misinformed Varma that the ball would slide away. He plunged on to his backfoot, shaping to slap the ball in front of square. But after landing, the ball took a drunken reroute. It barked back and slipped through Varma’s late retaliatory measures to disarray his stumps.

England Bowling Line Up India. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo
England Bowling Line Up India. Pic Credits: ESPNcricinfo

Varma wore a petrified look, as it required a near-unplayable ball to break his run meditation. The ball had gripped and turned more than any other on the day (5.7 degrees). The pitch was not a turner either, more sluggish and low in nature.

The wicket, with the score on 68 for 4, filled England with hope. Soon, it transformed into belief when India stumbled to 123 for 6, and 131 for 7 when Pandya departed. But Tilak’s wicket was the game’s mood-drifter.

If Tilak, India’s most prolific T20 batsman in recent times, could not fathom Rashid, what of the rest? The leggie ended the night with barely believable figures of 4-0-15-1. No fours or sixes, 10 dot balls, numerous edges and near stump-shaves, his efforts not only gave England a toe-hold into the game, but also illustrated that there is space for leg-breaking leg-spinners in this format. This was not a one-off — India’s high-flying batsmen have managed only 56 runs in his 10 overs this series.

Washington Sundar didn’t have it much easier either trying to negotiate the loop, dip and lack of pace to accompany the turn that Rashid was getting from the surface. His 14-ball 6 in the middle overs firmly shifted the control in England’s favour. At the same time, Rashid finished an excellent spell, conceding only 15 runs.

With the ball keep a little slow and low, Hardik Pandya, despite several attempts, failed to get the big shots going. The English pacers played around well with the pace, disguising the slower ones well with their high speeds. A couple of sixes were peppered with several mistimed shots for singles. Axar Patel didn’t have it any easier either, clawing his way to a 15-ball 16 before top-edging Jofra Archer to short third.

The last flicker of India’s slow-burning chase was extinguished on the first ball of the 19th over. Hardik Pandya, raging against the tide of defeat, flat-batted Jamie Overton to long-off. The batsman swiped the air in anger, as he couldn’t get underneath the ball as much as he wanted to; Jos Buttler, the catcher and England captain, flung the ball into the air in delight.

As the required rate kept mounting and went past India’s realistic chance, It just turned out to be a procession of wickets in the end, with Shami top-edging his swing to deep long on and Dhruv Jurel scooping the ball to the ‘keeper. Bishnoi drove the last ball for a boundary, but that was far too little for India. The 26-runs victory ensured that his team would stay alive in the five-game series that India leads 2-1.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Jos Buttler the winning ENG skipper said : The guys bowled really well, was nice to show-off their skills. Not about how fast they can bowl, but how well they can adapt to the wicket. He’s the most important player in our team, we are fortunate to have Rashid in the team. He has all variations. Jofra is consistent, he won’t go for sixes often, but he will come back for sure if he does.

I think the wicket looked different, Duckett played well. We lost wickets in clumps, we were disappointed. It was crucial to pick up wickets in the powerplay. I loved the way we kept pushing and kept taking the game on. Credit to Rashid and Wood, they had a crucial partnership in the end. That was the difference in the end.

Suryakumar Yadav the loosing IND skipper said : I felt there would be little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That’s why he is a world class bowler. He didn’t allow us to rotate the strike. That’s why we had a lot of spinners in our side as well. We always learn something from a T20 game.

We got to learn from the batting point of view. Got to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes. I am sure Shami will do better going forward. He (Varun Chakravarthy) has been working really hard during practice sessions. He is disciplined and he’s getting those results on the field as a result of that hard work.

Varun Chakravarthy Player of the Match for his 5-fer said : Sad we didn’t make it this match, but that’s nature of this game. Got to move on and get ready for the next match. When you are playing for the country, you have to take responsibility. I am able to do that to an extent.

I don’t complain (about one over spells), because there have been times when I have bowled four overs on the trot. I am ready for everything. Working on my flipper, it’s coming out well. As I told you in the previous match, maybe I have bowled well, but I can get better going forward.

Varun Chakravarthy is no stranger to setbacks. After a meteoric rise in the Indian Premier League, he was fast-tracked into the Indian T20I side for the 2021 World Cup. But things went disastrously for the team in the UAE, where they were knocked out in the Super 12 stage — a bitter disappointment for the cricketing nation.

The knee-jerk reaction to India’s early exit saw Varun Chakravarthy dropped from the squad. It took him three years to reinvent his bowling before making his comeback. This time, he earned the trust of head coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, both of whom had worked with him previously. Varun Chakravarthy has since repaid their faith, cementing his place with a steady run of games in the T20I format.

England win by 26 runs and keep the series alive. The scoreline now stands 2-1 in favour of India with a couple of T20Is remaining. Earlier in the day, England posted a competitive total having put in to bat first. Varun Chakravarthy bowled a magnificent spell as he grabbed five wickets, however, the fifty by Ben Duckett and a brisk knock by Livingstone helped the visitors post a total of 170-plus. In reply, India lost an early wicket in the form of Sanju Samson who struggled to get going once again.

Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav were dismissed in the powerplay, while Tilak Varma – the man in form couldn’t add anything substantial either. Adil Rashid kept the lid on the scoring rate in the middle overs by bowling a wily spell, and as a result of that the required run rate shot over the roof.

Washington Sundar used up too many deliveries before departing, while Hardik Pandya struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking when the pacers were bowling. Boundaries were difficult to come by for India and as a result of some disciplined bowling, England managed to defend the total comfortably in the end.

India won the first two T20Is of the series while chasing, but they failed to get over the line today as England were disciplined with the ball. Varun Chakravarthy’s spell was the highlight of the first innings as the leg-spinner grabbed five wickets, however, England’s leggie – Adil Rashid was equally impressive tonight. He bowled a wily spell and the England pacers kept picking up wickets at regular intervals to stay ahead in the contest, eventually registering their first win of the tour.

The hosts would consider it an aberration — they have looked invincible since early 2023, having claimed seven of their last eight series and drawn the other, apart from being world champions. Such days — when India restricted England to 171, even though they let them off the hook from 127 for eight, but couldn’t gather enough impetus to hunt down the target — are bound to occur in a series. For England, their first win after Brendon McCullum took the white-ball keys, this would be a sign of an upturn in fortunes.

The neutrals, though, would purr over two contrastingly exciting leg-spinners. The new-age one in Varun Chakravarthy, whose five-for went futile, and the anachronism that is Adil Rashid, whose one-wicket burst proved more decisive to the game’s outcome. Both have ample tricks up their sleeve, have common threads too, but use their gifts in distinct ways to achieve the same end of picking wickets and winning matches. The leg-spinners’ battle would resume on Friday and would probably define the series.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights

 

 

 

 


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