Varun Chakravarthy creates world record after Rajkot T20I success

Indian leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy is in dream form with the ball as he claimed his second T20I fifer in the Rajkot T20I. By completing 10 wickets in the ongoing home series against England, Varun set up a new world record in T20I cricket.

While India are leading the series by 2-0 at the end of two matches of the five-match T20I series, the Rajkot T20I was a must-win match for England, just like the next two fixtures.

After Indian captain Surykumar Yadav chose to field first, India restricted England to 171/9 in 20 overs. Although India lost the game by 26 runs after scoring 145/9, Varun Chakravarthy won the Player of the Match award for his incredible bowling performance.

Varun Chakravarthy recorded his second T20I fifer

England got a strong start in the Rajkot T20I. Opener Ben Duckett scored a strong 50 as England were once batting on 83/1. However, Indian spinners bowled superbly, as the visitors later found themselves at 127/8.

Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy shined once again as he picked up a fifer. He finished the game with the bowling figures of 4-0-24-5, which were the joint second-best T20I bowling figures by an Indian bowler against England.

Indians with the best bowling figures against England in T20I

Player	Bowling figures	Venue	Date
Yuzvendra Chahal	4-0-25-6	Bengaluru	1 February 2017
Kuldeep Yadav	4-0-24-5	Manchester	3 July 2018
Varun Chakravarthy	4-0-24-5	Rajkot	28 January 2025
Harbhajan Singh	4-2-12-4	Colombo (RPS)	23 September 2012
Hardik Pandya	4-0-33-4	Southampton	7 July 2022

Varun Chakravarthy: 1st bowler to record "10 or more wickets in a bilateral T20I series " more than once

With this five-wicket haul, Varun Chakravarthy has recorded 10 wickets in this T20I series, while two matches are yet to be played. In their previous T20I series, which was a four-match T20I series against the hosts South Africa, Varun recorded 12 wickets in four games, India’s record for most wickets in a bilateral T20I series.

As he has achieved 10 wickets or more in back-to-back T20I series, Varun Chakravarthy created history by recording 10 or more wickets in a bilateral T20I series more than once. There is no other bowler who has achieved it twice.