The second-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024 was none other than the mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy. Now aged 33 years, Chakaravarthy was the most consistent bowler in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp last season and was hence one of the key architects of their title-winning side. The right-arm leg-break bowler is doing wonders while representing the Indian national cricket team now. In the recently concluded IND vs ENG T20I series, the bowler picked 14 wickets in five games. His bowling masterclass has also earned him a spot in the ODI innings India are set to play against England. Varun Chakaravarthy Picks Most Wickets in Bilateral T20I Series by Indian, Breaks His Record During IND vs ENG 5th T20I 2025

The leg spinner started his List A career playing for the Tamil Nadu cricket team in 2018. IPL franchisees wasted no time in spotting the talent, and in IPL 2019 he played for the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) for a staggering fee of 8.4 crores INR. KXIP released him only after a season, and KKR immediately picked him in the next auction and kept faith in him over the years. From 2020 to their magical title-winning year of 2024, Varun Chakaravarthy has represented the Kolkata-based team every year. Now the player is slowly becoming a regular in white-ball cricket for the Indian national cricket team, and if he performs well in the IND vs ENG ODI series 2025, he might even get a breakthrough to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad. Varun Chakaravarthy Earns Maiden ODI Call-Up, Added to India's Squad for IND vs ENG 2025 ODI Series After Exceptional Performances in T20Is

Which Team Varun Chakaravarthy is Part of in IPL 2025?

Varun Chakaravarthy continues to be a part of the defending Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders. The IPL 2024 winners had retained him prior to the auctions, for a big fee of 12 crores INR. He was the second of the six retentions KKR made while releasing captain Shreyas Iyer.

Chakaravarthy has been KKR's ace-spinner for the last few years along with the T20 legend Sunil Narine. To date, for the Knight Riders he has picked 82 wickets in just 70 matches. In IPL 2024, he was the second-leading wicket-taker in the entire tournament, picking 21 wickets in 14 innings with an economy of 8.04.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 04, 2025 04:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).