Varun Chakravarthy struck thrice in the middle overs as he worked his magic to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in an IPL 2024 clash at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.
Coming into bowl the ninth over, Chakravarthy spun a web around the DC batters and went on to bowl all four of his overs on the trot. He snared the key wickets of Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs and impact sub Kumar Kushagra in his match-defining spell of 3/16.
Chakravarthy, at the post-match press conference, said getting to bowl in the first innings was what turned things in his favour.
“The last two matches before this, we didn’t defend that well. Because the wickets have become very placid in the second innings and definitely the fact that we could go to bowl in the first innings was good. The pitch was also a little helpful,” Chakravarthy said.
When asked if the pitch played differently, Chakravarthy explained: “So the thing is, the other pitches have been slow. This pitch was a little bit more turning. That was the difference. The length is basically the same for all the matches. It’s just how the wicket behaves. In other matches, it was not giving this much help but this wicket gave and helped our bowlers.”
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Chakravarthy also revealed that plans were chalked up with the KKR thinktank tinkering with the tactics, along with a pep talk from Shah Rukh Khan, which made the difference.
“After the last match, which was a very hard pill to swallow. We had many conversations with the management, we spoke with the coaches – Carl Crowe, Bharat Arun, Gautam Gambhir, Chandrakant Pandit, Abhishek Nair, everyone chipped in,” he said.
“We came up with many tactics. Even Shah Rukh bhai, he came up to us yesterday and spoke to me about – don’t take it personally, whatever is happening this IPL is just going at a crazy rate, just don’t self doubt yourself,” Chakravarthy added.
Chakravarthy, who was adjudged the player of the match, credited the KKR bowlers rather than the failings of the DC batters for the win.
“So that has been the trend and if you see Eden Gardens everyone wants to post big totals and they have a positive intent, I can’t say that it’s wrong but I feel our bowlers in the powerplay – like how (Mitchell) Starc and Vaibhav (Arora) bowled. So we have to give it to our bowlers,” he said.
“If they would have scored 190 or 200. I felt it was around 185 to 190 pitch if they had scored that anything could happen,” he added.
When asked about batters smacking the ball with insane strike rates, Chakravarthy said that bowlers have to accept the new normal and adapt.
“We have to accept that this IPL is different and we have to mentally accept the challenge. Last year the Impact Player rule was also there. The main thing is that teams have now understood how to better use the impact player this season. So they all know that there is extra batting and they want to charge from the first ball. And that’s how it’s going. However much the bowlers cry, that’s how it is. We have to take up the challenge. You can’t change the side of the ground or you can’t change anything,” he added.
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