Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery seems to have faded somewhat heading into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 . The spinner enjoyed great success in the group stages, picking up nine wickets in four games. However,
his bowling began to lose its bite in the later phase of the tournament. Batters appeared more comfortable facing him, and most of his wickets seemed to come only when the opposition made mistakes.
Varun’s figures — 1/47 against South Africa, 1/35 against Zimbabwe, and 1/40 against West Indies — had already raised some concerns. The situation worsened in the semi-final against England, where he was hammered for 64 runs in his four overs. Jacob Bethell was particularly aggressive, smashing 42 runs off just 13 balls against the spinner.
Following that performance, there was speculation that Kuldeep Yadav might replace Varun in the final. However, ahead of the summit clash, India captain Suryakumar Yadav backed Varun during the pre-match press conference and said,
“Varun’s form is not a concern for us. Our focus is on winning games. He is the world’s No. 1 bowler and knows how to help this team win. We just want to keep things simple. Captaining India in such a big final is a very special moment for me.”
(More to follow…)
