MATCH STORIES
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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been one of the best spin attacks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. While Sunil Narine often gets the limelight for his impeccable accuracy with the ball and explosive batting at the top, Varun Chakaravarthy has remained in the shadows.
His three wickets are testament to him bowling at the same length repeatedly, and making the batter guessing as to which way the ball would turn. As always, he also did not give the ball much flight, and just skidded the ball across to the batters, bowling at an average speed of 93 KMPH.
The spinner had a brilliant record against Delhi Capitals (DC) going into this contest, with 14 wickets (ER 7.7). Moreover, his only other three-wicket haul this season also came against DC in the reverse fixture and was coming into the contest after figures of 0/46 against Punjab last game.
Coming into this match against his favourite opponent, Chakaravarthy created more than one chance every over.
Harshit Rana put down a sitter off Chakaravarthy’s first delivery. Rishabh Pant was the batter, no less. The look on Chakaravarthy’s face indicated that it would be a long day for him and KKR. However, that did not cost him or KKR much as Pant was dismissed off Chakaravarthy’s first ball off his second over.
If that was not enough, he struck again off the first ball of a fresh over when Tristan Stubbs was caught behind and then in the corresponding next over, he got Kuldeep Yadav’s outside edge, beating ‘keeper and slip into the fence.
He made the batter reach outside off and drive or force them to play unorthodox shots and, inevitably, get their wickets. The pressure grew on DC and it took a special knock by Kuldeep down the order to take them past 150.
What’s worked for Chakaravarthy is bowling at the Eden Gardens. He has made the ‘home’ advantage count, picking up eight wickets at Eden Gardens, the most from his side after Harshit Rana (9).
KKR have been the best bowling unit in IPL 2024 so far, having picked up 22 wickets at 30.3 this season. Chakaravarthy has picked up 10 of those and has bowled as many as 63 dots in this phase, only three behind Narine, which is further a testament to how well the mystery spinner has bowled.
While Chakaravarthy on his own can win matches for KKR, along with Narine, they become an indestructible force.
Chakaravarthy played for India in the T20 World Cup in 2021, which did not come as a surprise, as he had picked 28 wickets at an economy rate of 6.4 in the IPL in UAE since 2020. However, things did not go to plan when he donned India’s blue at the mega event and as a result, he has not gotten another chance.
However, even overall, In IPL since 2022, he has been among the best spinners in the IPL, with 37 wickets at an economy of 8.5. Among Indian spinners, only Yuzvendra Chahal (61) and Kuldeep Yadav (43) have picked up more wickets in this phase.
Fast forward to IPL 2024, while Chakaravarthy has blown hot and cold, often giving an impression that there is no more mystery left in him, he has bounced back with yet another brilliant spell. The issue, perhaps, is that such spells have been few and far between, which does not bode well for him to catch the attention of the selectors.
His superb show at the Eden Gardens comes after the curator had suggested that that he had refused requests from the KKR management to prepare slow wickets that would favour the home team. "There is no question of favouring the home team. I said it last year, and I am repeating it: nowhere in the IPL rules is it stated that pitches should favour the home team. It depends on the curator," Sujan Mukherjee had told Sports Now ahead of the season.
That has not deterred the KKR tweakers from reigning supreme at home.
