Attack Varun Chakravarthy early and his confidence drops, Ashwin warns ahead of T20 World Cup final

Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared his views on Varun Chakravarthy’s bowling after the semi-final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, saying the spinner’s confidence drops when batters attack him early in his spell.

India reached the final after beating England by seven runs in the semi-final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Chakravarthy had a difficult outing in the match while defending a total of 253 runs.




The spinner conceded 64 runs and picked up one wicket. It became the joint second-most expensive bowling spell in a T20 World Cup match. He equalled the record of Sanath Jayasuriya, who had figures of 0/64 for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in Johannesburg in 2007.

"What is happening with Varun is not that teams are attacking him or picking him. Everyone knows that Adil Rashid has a googly. Teams attacking or reading a bowler is normal — it happens to every cricketer. But if this happens, you have to be tactical. You cannot miss the lengths. Line and length variations with speed variations are important. Varun has to be spoken to," Ashwin said on 'Ash ki Baat'.

"Every time he gets attacked upfront, the confidence is going down further, because he knows he is catching up. I am tired of saying this again and again. From the last few games, I am saying this. Do not bowl from round the wicket to the left-hander," he added.

The most expensive bowling figures in a T20 World Cup match were recorded in this edition when Saurabh Netravalkar of the United States returned 0/65 against India.

Chakravarthy now has the joint second-most expensive bowling figures for India in all T20 internationals. Prasidh Krishna holds the record with 0/68 against Australia in Guwahati in 2023, while Yuzvendra Chahal also had figures of 0/64 against South Africa in Durban in 2018.

India will face New Zealand in the final of the tournament on Sunday, March 8 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The two teams had also reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and will again meet in the final of an ICC tournament nearly a year later.

Get the latest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, IND vs ENG Live Score updates, including the full schedule, teams, points table, and key series stats such as top run-scorers and wicket-takers.