Varun Chakaravarthy Becomes The No 1 ICC T20I Bowler

Indian mystery spinner Varun Chakravarti becomes the No.1 T20I bowler with the 733 rating points. Varun left England’s Jacob Duffy by 16 points, who has led the ranking since March 2025. 

Earlier, he was ranked 4th, well behind Jacob Duffy, Akeal Hosein, and Adil Rashid. His career-best ranking was 2nd position, which he achieved in February 2025.

This 34-year-old has taken only two wickets in the ongoing Asia Cup across his two matches so far. His bowling spells in the Asia Cup are 1/4 against the UAE and 1/24 against Pakistan. 

Varun is the only third Indian bowler, after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi, to achieve the highest ranking in T20Is. 

How did Varun Chakaravarthy become the No.1 T20I Bowler?

Australia’s spinner Adam Zampa also jumped one place to reach the 4th ranking, Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Tushara reached the 6th ranking after taking a big leap of 6 places. 

Since. Ravi Bishnoi hasn’t played in T20I games recently; he has slipped to the 8th ranking after losing two places. 

Another Indian spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, also jumped 16 places to get a 23rd ranking. He is rewarded for his outstanding performance in the Asia Cup 2025, having taken seven wickets in two games while conceding only 245 runs. 

Current ICC T20I Bowler Ranking 

Varun Chakravarthy tops the list with 733 points, 16 points ahead of 2nd position. Ravi Bishnoi joins him as the 2nd best Indian bowler in the top 10 list. 

Source: ICC

Varun Chakravarthy T20I Career Journey 

Varun Chakravarthy’s T20I career journey is full of setbacks and an incredible comeback. Initially named in India’s T20I squad for a tour of Australia in October 2020, but due to injury, he could not play. 

He finally made his T20I debut on July 25, 2021. Seeing his promising performances, he was named in India’s squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, but he was unable to take a single wicket in 3 matches.

After his debut year, Varun was dropped due to his performance and fitness. He got another chance in 2024 and made a notable comeback in October 2024 against Bangladesh, taking 3 wickets for 31 runs. In November 2024, he achieved his maiden T20I five-wicket haul with figures of 5/17 against South Africa.

In 2025, Chakravarthy’s performances showed remarkable improvement. He won the Player of the Series award in the T20I series against England, including a second five-wicket haul (5/24). His consistent performance led him to become the No. 1-ranked bowler in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings in September 2025, making him the third Indian to reach this pinnacle, after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi.

Varun Chakaravarthy T20 Bowling Stats

It took only 20 matches and 35 wickets to become Varun the No.1 T20I bowler. Here are his short but impactful T20I career stats.