Varun Chakravathy has just got massacred. Continuing on his trend of being quite expensive since the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2026, the Tamil Nadu spinner conceded 64 runs in his four-over quota in the semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. England need 254 runs to beat India and book their berth in the finals of the marquee tournament, and Chakravarthy has done the most harm to the co-hosts so far.
Chakravarthy gets smothered by England batters
In his very first over, Varun was taken to the cleaners by Jacob Bethell as he slammed three back-to-back sixes. While he managed to castle Buttler, the boundaries against the Indian spinner continued to flow as Bethell continued to target the mystery spinner. It turned out that Chakravarthy was of no use to the Indian spin department on a surface which least supported the Indian spinners as he went on to get bashed for boundary after boundary in the remainder of his quota and simply failed to keep the England batters quiet. He finished with figures of 1/64, with an economy rate of 16. Bethell was the most effective against the spinner, scoring 43 runs off just 13 balls.
Prior to the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final against England, Varun had 12 wickets to his name, at an economy rate of 7.66. He has figures of 1/24, 3/7, 2/17, 3/14, 1/47, 1/35 and 1/40, before this contest and has been expensive particularly since the Super 8 stage. Chakravarthy now has the joint second-most expensive returns for India in all T20Is after 0/68 by Prasidh Krishna against Australia (Guwahati, 2023) and alongside 0/64 for Yuzvendra Chahal vs South Africa (Durban, 2018).
Most expensive returns in T20 WCs
- 0/65 – Saurabh Netravalkar (USA) vs IND, Mumbai WS, 2026
0/64 – Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) vs PAK, Johannesburg, 2007
1/64 – Varun Chakravarthy (IND) vs ENG, Mumbai WS, 2026
0/63 – Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN) vs PAK, Mirpur, 2014
1/62 – Richard Ngarava (ZIM) vs IND, Chennai, 2026
Bowlers conceding 50-plus in a T20 WC knockout game
- 1/64: Varun Chakravarthy vs ENG, Mumbai, 2026 SF
- 1/61 – Jofra Archer vs IND, Mumbai WS, 2026 SF
- 0/60 – Mitchell Starc vs NZ, Dubai, 2021 Final
- 0/54 – Lasith Malinga vs WI, Colombo RPS, 2012 Final
- 0/53 – Marco Jansen vs NZ, Kolkata, 2026 SF (2.5 overs)
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