Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif noted that Varun Chakravarthy seemed to panic a little when he gets hit for runs. His remarks come ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final against England on Thursday where the co-hosts will be hoping the Tamil Nadu spinner delivers on the biggest stage. Despite having 12 wickets to his name in the tournament so far, Chakravarthy has been expensive, boasting of an economy rate of 7.66.
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In a video on his YouTube channel, Kaif claimed that batters are now better prepared to deal with Varun, suggesting that he is no longer India’s mystery spinner. He said that Chakravarthy tends to panic when he gets hit for runs and starts bowling to the pads instead of sticking to his natural wicket-to-wicket length.
“Many batters are now coming prepared, knowing exactly how to plan against him (Varun). That is where a slight problem can arise. I have noticed that when he gets hit for runs, he sometimes shows a bit of panic. You can see it in the way he reacts. Instead of sticking to his natural wicket-to-wicket length, he starts bowling at the pads.” said Kaif.
So far, Varun has featured in all of India’s matches in the ongoing T20 WC, managing to keep Kuldeep Yadav out of the playing XI. He has figures of 1/24, 3/7, 2/17, 3/14, 1/47, 1/35 and 1/40, and has been expensive particularly in the last three games. Kaif suggested Chakravarthy to bowl more of leg spin, while also opining on why batters feel it is easy to target him.
“Throughout this World Cup, I feel he has bowled very little leg-spin. He can work on his leg-spin because right now batsmen are waiting for his googly. Since the ball comes into the stumps, they treat it like an off-spinner and expect it to turn inward. That is why many of them are able to hit him towards long-on and straight with a full face of the bat,” Kaif added.
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