With figures of 4 for 53 in four overs in the fifth and final T20I against South Africa Varun Chakravarthy ended the series as the leading wicket-taker with 10 wickets, at an average of 11.20 and an economy rate of 7.46.
Varun Chakravarthy ended a dream year as the leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals amongst Test-playing nations in 2025.
He was also the second-highest wicket-taker for India in a calendar year in T20Is.
The 34-year-old mystery spinner rewrote the record books during the fifth and final T20I against South Africa at Ahmedabad on Friday, casting a spell of his bamboozling spin magic on the Proteas batters, four of them surrendering to his bowling.
He had figures of 4 for 53 in four overs and ended the series as the leading wicket-taker with 10 wickets, at an average of 11.20 and an economy rate of 7.46.
This year, in 20 matches and 18 innings, Varun took 36 wickets at an average of 13.19 and an economy rate of 7.08. It includes a five-wicket haul and four-fer and best figures of 5 for 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.
He also ended up 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 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 in to bat. Openers Sanju Samson (37 in 22 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Abhishek Sharma (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 South Africa.
During the run-chase of 232 runs, the South Africans put up a 69-run opening stand, 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, the Proteas lost wickets regularly and never quite managed to make a comeback, falling short by 30 runs, restricted to 201 for 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 was the 'Player of the Series'.
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