‘Flat pitch and small boundaries’ - Varun Chakravarthy opens up about bowling in challenging conditions at Eden Gardens

KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy is back to his absolute best as the mystery spinner has picked up 17 wickets in 11 matches so far in IPL 2023. In Kolkata Knight Riders’ last match against Punjab Kings, the 31-year-old picked up three crucial wickets of Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma and Rishi Dhawan and helped the home team restrict the Shikhar Dhawan-led side under 180 runs.

Talking about his performances so far this season, the Karnataka-born cricketer mentioned that he is trying to keep things simple and is using three variations to bamboozle the batters. The spinner also thanked his captain Nitish Rana for constantly backing him as the cricketer is currently fifth in the IPL Purple Cap race. 

“Thank You so much. The plan was simple, as Nitish wanted me to challenge them on the longer side of the boundary. I did that, and the fact that I had the captain's backing also helped me to succeed. This season keep it simple and use three variations. It's good, and we need to bowl better at home, and it is challenging conditions,” Varun Chakravarthy told IPL broadcasters after KKR beat PBKS by five wickets at the iconic Eden Gardens.

“Flat pitch and small boundaries. So, if we do well here, we will do well in the tournament. As I said, tough bowling here with small boundaries. It will be the same bowling to Dhawan. So, it's all about executing the right lines and lengths and coming out on top,” Chakravarthy added.

Andre Russell, Rinku Singh win it for KKR

While chasing 180 runs, KKR were under tremendous pressure as they were losing wickets at regular intervals. However, T20 superstar Andre Russell wreaked havoc, scoring 42 runs off 23 deliveries to bail the home team out of a tricky situation. Nevertheless, KKR felt the pressure as Arshdeep Singh was brilliant in the final over of the game. Andre Russell got out in the penultimate delivery, and it was Rinku Singh who had to take the team home.

The man from Aligarh eventually hit a boundary to help KKR win their fifth match of the season as the Knight Riders now move to number five on the IPL Points Table while PBKS slipped down to number seven.