The good length delivery is key to taking wickets in T20 cricket, Varun Chakaravarthy’s success proves it | Cricket News
3 min readUpdated: Feb 12, 2026 06:56 PM IST
Crackerjack bats, flat pitches, white balls that hardly swing and batsmen who smash fearlessly. This is what a bowler who plies his trade in the T20 format faces. But how do bowlers effect dismissals in this insane-scoring era, where batters possess the ability to hit any ball to the boundary? The Indian Express looked at the top four wicket-takers in T20I format since the 2024 T20 World Cup till January 29 2025. The length which yielded the most wickets and has the best economy rate among all of the lengths has been good length deliveries.
Varun Chakaravarthy, India
Wickets taken: 56| Wickets from good length: 26|Economy: 6.8
Most productive deliveries: Googly (43 wickets) and leg break (9 wickets)
The Indian spinner, the No.1-ranked T20I bowler, is the top wicket-taker in this cycle. Varun’s ability to consistently bowl on the good length, varying his speed and mixing his leg-spinners and googlies makes it a daunting task for the batters to pick him. His precision and control mean he can operate in difficult phases of the game.
Good length deliveries: the #1 wicket-taking zone
● India
Varun Chakravarthy
ICC Rank #1
24
Short-length wkts (2nd best)
Top delivery
Googly 43 · Leg break 9
● New Zealand
Jacob Duffy
ICC Rank #4
11
Fuller-length wkts (2nd best)
Top delivery
In-swing 15 · Out-swing 13
● Sri Lanka
Wanindu Hasaranga
Sri Lanka
13
Fuller-length wkts (2nd best)
Top delivery
Googly 21 · Leg break 17
● Pakistan
Abrar Ahmed
Pakistan
6
Fuller-length wkts (2nd best)
Top delivery
Googly 19 · Carrom ball 15
Jacob Duffy, New Zealand
Total wickets taken: 47| Wickets from good length: 20|Economy: 6.6
Most Productive deliveries: in swingers (15 wickets) and out swingers (13 wickets)
He is the lone pacer in a list dominated by wrist spinners and also the only fast bowler in the top four (4th) in the ICC rankings. Duffy can swing the ball both ways and has become the spearhead of the Kiwi attack in the post-Trent Boult-Tim Southee era. Good with the new ball, he is also a death bowling specialist, delivering slower ones and toe-crushing yorkers.
Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka
Total wickets taken: 41| Wickets from good length: 20|Economy: 5.5
Most productive deliveries: googly (21 wickets) and leg break (17 wickets)
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The leg-spinner, with his ability to execute the variations accurately and with a quick action, is hard to pick for the batters. Sri Lanka, similar to Chakarvarthy for India, have often deployed him in the tougher powerplay overs or in the final phase of the innings when batters are on a hitting spree.
Abrar Ahmed, Pakistan
Total wickets taken: 38| Wickets from good length: 29|Economy: 6.6
Most productive delivery: Googly (19 wickets) and carrom ball (15 wickets)
The Harry Potter look-alike mystery spinner from Pakistan does weave a bit of magic with his fingers to bamboozle the batters. His overs through the middle have proved to be a headache for the batters to score off, as the Australian batters who have faced him recently found out. Pakistan’s games are in Sri Lanka where the spinners do have a bit of say, plays into his hands.
Note: While Duffy (11 wickets), Hasaranga (13 wickets), and Abrar (6 wickets) have their next best lengths as the fuller ones, Chakarvarthy (24 wickets), interestingly, has shorter length as his next most wicket-producing length.
Stats credit: Cricket21
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