"Mystery spinner" - Varun Dhawan cheekily responds after being tagged over Travis Head dismissal in IND vs AUS 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal

Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan reacted funnily on social media after being mistaken for Varun Chakavarathy during the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final on Tuesday, March 4. The reaction came after the mystery spinner dismissed Australia’s swashbuckling opener Travis Head (39 off 33 balls) in his very first over of the contest.

Several fans on Instagram lauded Dhawan instead of Chakaravarthy owing to the common name. Notably, Dhawan appears first if you write Varun on the social media platform because of his popularity. The actor took the opportunity to respond cheekily to the comments section.

Take a look:

A screenshot of Varun Dhawa's Instagram post comment section. [Pic credits: @varundwn on Instagram]

This is not the first instance when fans mistakenly tagged the wrong user during the 2025 Champions Trophy. Several insensitive fans lashed out at electronics maker Phillips India after the New Zealand all-rounder took a stunning catch to remove Virat Kohli in India’s previous game.

As far as Varun Chakaravarathy’s dismissal is concerned, Travis Head went for a big shot against the spinner of his very first ball. The southpaw failed to middle his chip shot and Shubman Gill sprinted to cover a lot of ground before completing a brilliant catch at long-off.

Head has been a nightmare for India in ICC events, having smashed centuries in Australia’s wins over the Men in Blue in the 2023 ODI World Cup final and the World Test Championship summit clash the same year.

---

Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets in the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal

Varun Chakravarthy impressed with the ball, finishing with figures of 2/49 in his 10 overs against Australia in the 2025 Champions Trophy semi-final. Besides Travis Head, he also dismissed Ben Dwarshuis, who departed for 19 off 29 balls. Chakaravarthy recently bagged a fifer against New Zealand in the last Group A clash, where he finished with figures of 5/42.

The Karnataka-born spinner was included in India's squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 at the last minute following his excellence with the ball against England in the limited-overs series.

Meanwhile, batting first, Australia were bundled out for 264 in 49.3 overs. Captain Steve Smith led from the front, scoring 73 runs off 96 balls, while Alex Carey chipped in with a valuable 61 off 57 deliveries. Mohammad Shami starred with the ball, returning with figures of 3/48, while Ravindra Jadeja and Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets each.

The winner of the first semi-final will play against South Africa or New Zealand based on the second semi-final result in the final on March 9.

Follow the IND vs AUS 2025 Champions Trophy live score and updates here.