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Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy ended a dream year with the ball as the leading wicket-taker in T20Is amongst Test-playing nations in 2025 and also as the second-highest wicket-taker for India in a calendar year in T20I cricket.
The 34-year-old mystery spinner rewrote record books during the fifth and final T20I against South Africa at Ahmedabad and cast a spell of his bamboozling spin magic on Proteas batters, with four of them surrendering to his bowling. He ended up with figures of 4/53 in four overs and ended the series as the leading wicket-taker with 10 wickets at an average of 11.20 at an economy rate of 7.46. This year, in 20 matches and 18 innings, Varun has taken 36 wickets at an average of 13.19 and an economy rate of 7.08, with a five-wicket haul and four-fer to his name and best figures being 5/24. He is tied with Pakistan's Mohammed Nawaz (36 wickets) for the joint-most wickets in 2025 by a bowler from a playing nation. Also, he ended a wicket behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the 'Swing King' of India, who had 37 T20I wickets in 2022 at an average of 19.56 to become India's second-highest wicket-taker in a calendar year. He also continued his fine run against South Africa, taking 22 wickets in eight matches at an average of 11.36, with an economy rate of 8.06, a five-for and four-fer to his name. Coming to the match, the Proteas won the toss and put India to field first. Openers Samson (37 in 22 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Abhishek (34 in 21 balls, with six fours and a six) gave India a fiery start with a 63-run stand in just 5.4 overs. After a brief stumble following dismissals of Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav (5), Tilak (73 in 42 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Hardik put on a 105-run stand for the fourth wicket, taking India to 231/5 in 20 overs. Corbin Bosch (2/44) was the pick of the bowlers for SA. During the run-chase of 232 runs, SA did put up a 69-run opening stand, which was mainly due to the efforts of opener Quinton de Kock (65 in 35 balls, with nine fours and three sixes), who continued his love affair with Indian bowling. Reeza Hendricks (13 in 12 balls, with a four) was the first victim of the evening's leading wicket-taker, Varun. Brevis did give India a scare with his knock, sticking around for another half-century stand with QDK to take SA to 120 in the 11th over. However, following his dismissal, Proteas lost wickets regularly and never quite managed to make a comeback, falling short by 30 runs and restricted to 201/8 in 20 overs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/17) was also impressive in his four-over quota, while Arshdeep also took a wicket. Pandya took home the 'Player of the Match' award as India sealed the series 3-1, while Varun got the 'Player of the Series' award for taking 10 wickets at an average of 11.20 and an economy rate of 7.46. (ANI)
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