Varun Chakravarthy takes most wickets for India in bilateral T20I series

During the 3rd T20I of the four-match series against South Africa, India's leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy registered his name in the record books as he became the player to take the most wickets in a single bilateral series for the nation in the shortest format of the game. Varun Chakravarthy snapped two wickets in his spell of four overs where he conceded 54 runs at an economy rate of 13.5. He took the wickets of opener Reeza Hendricks and skipper Aiden Markram.

With these two wickets, the 33-year-old has now 10 wickets in the ongoing series with one match still remaining which will be played in Johannesburg on Friday. Earlier, the top wicket-takers in a single bilateral series were off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin (against Sri Lanka in 2016), and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (vs. Australia in 2023) who took nine wickets each

Recapping the Centurion T20I, South Africa won the toss and decided to field. Abhishek Sharma (50 runs from 25 balls, 3 fours and 5 sixes) and Tilak Varma (107* runs from 56 balls, 8 fours and 7 sixes) powered India to 219/6 in the first innings. Other batters failed to shine. Andile Simelane and Keshav Maharaj led the Proteas bowling attack and bagged two wickets each in their respective spell.

During the run chase, Heinrich Klaasen (41 runs from 22 balls, 1 four and 4 sixes) and Marco Jansen (54 runs from 17 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes) kept the Proteas in the game. But with the help of Arshdeep, India prevailed in the end. Arshdeep did the job both with the new ball and in the death overs as he picked up three crucial wickets and gave 37 runs in his four-over spell. Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets in his four-over spell. (ANI)