New Delhi: With nine wickets in four matches, Varun Chakravarthy headed into India’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s opener against South Africa in sensational form, great rhythm and possibly the biggest threat from the bowling line-up.

With South Africa reeling after losing three quick wickets, Chakravarthy was called into action at a perfect time. But despite everything in his favour, Chakravarthy failed to live up to his billing as India’s ‘trump card’ and became the weakest link in the bowling attack of the defending champions.

The right-arm mystery spinner was brought into the attack to put on a stranglehold on an under-pressure South African batting line-up after Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh gave India the perfect start with the new ball.

Instead, his spell became a perfect launchpad for the Proteas to counter-attack and wrestle back momentum from the co-hosts.

Chakrvarthy conceded 47 runs in his four overs, with both David Miller (63 off 35 balls) and Dewald Brevis (45 off 29 balls) launching an incredible onslaught to put the pressure back on India by smashing their best bowler of the tournament.

It was a turning point as the Proteas, despite tottering at 20 for 3 in the fourth over, went on to post a formidable 187 for 7 in 20 overs and eventually rode on the momentum to bowl India out for 111 for a 76-run win.

Miller, who was named Player of the Match for his match-winning half-century, revealed how he and the other Proteas batters nullified the big bowling threat.

Miller disclosed details about the strategy while facing Chakravarthy, one of the most dangerous bowlers in T20I cricket.

“I think it’s just about really making sure that we were on it in terms of if he bowls a bad ball we got to put it away – so a little bit more intent and it wasn’t spinning too much tonight, so you can kind of trust the line,” Miller told reporters after South Africa’s big win.

“And once we felt that, then we felt, OK, we’ve got to take him down, because he is a threat to every team that he does play against. So it was definitely something that we did speak about,” he added.

Before the Ahmedabad hammering, Chakravarthy picked up 23 wickets in nine matches against South Africa at an astonishing average of 12.91. But previous record and form mattered little as South Africa countered one of the biggest thorns in their flesh in recent times with a clear mindset and positive intent.

After a heavy loss, which put a big dent in India’s ego and Net Run Rate (NRR), the defending champions face an uphill task to bounce back in the remaining two Super Eight matches against Zimbabwe and the West Indies.