Varun Chakravarthy panics under Attack? Ex-India player finds serious issue with Mystery Spinner

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India's Varun Chakravarthy has found things difficult in the last three T20 World Cup matches. He has picked up just 3 wickets in the last three outings, conceding at a rate of more than 10 in these matches.

Varun conceded 47 runs against South Africa, while the last match against West Indies saw him conceding 40 runs again.

India are set to play England in the T20 World Cup semifinal on Thursday (March 5) in Mumbai, and Wankhede's small boundary will be a litmus test for the India spinner. Amid this, former India player Mohammed Kaif has opined that the India spinner has lost his composure when the batters have gone aggressive on his bowling.

"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 on his YouTube channel.

Kaif further critiqued Chakaravarthy's overdependence on his googly at the expense of his stock leg-spin delivery.

"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 observed.

To counter this, Kaif suggested a strategic shift toward varying his lengths and lines more effectively, and the former India player also suggested Varun to bowl on an off-stump line and bowl his googlies at the stumps.

"I think Varun needs to focus more on his leg-spin as well. He can bowl outside the off-stump line with his leg-spin and then bring in the googly as a variation. If he keeps bowling only googlies, batsmen may start reading him better. Instead of targeting the pads, he can attack outside off-stump with leg-spin and then surprise them with a googly aimed at the stumps. That could be a smarter plan for Varun," the former India player added.

Despite his recent lack of form, Varun Chakravarthy sits 2nd in the most wicket-taking list in the T20 World Cup 2026 with 12 scalps.