Varun Chakravarthy had gone through a difficult stretch with the ball for nearly two months, struggling to reproduce the usual accuracy and incisiveness that makes him so dangerous. With a disappointing finish at the T20 World Cup followed by a sluggish start to IPL 2026, plenty of voices began to wonder if his best days were already behind him. However, on Sunday afternoon, the Kolkata Knight Riders spinner overturned the doubts in emphatic fashion by delivering figures of 3/14 against a strong Rajasthan Royals batting unit, setting the tone that this was simply a rough patch rather than a decline.
Several factors had left Chakravarthy short of full effectiveness in recent weeks, but the Tamil Nadu player offered a key explanation after the innings ended. He said he had been battling through pain from a broken hand, caused by injuries to two fingers on his non-bowling left arm—issues that, despite the setbacks, still allowed him to keep working as best as he could.
“I think we all deserved this win, even though it’s just one victory—it feels very sweet. In the first few matches (of the season) I was injured; I had two fractures,” Chakravarthy said. “I still have two fractures in my left hand, so I’m just trying to manage that.”
As the match progressed, Chakravarthy looked more like the bowler RR feared: he found the right length, the correct pace, and the grip and movement behind his variations. In the games that preceded this, batters had been able to line up his deliveries and punish him, cutting through his plans. Against Rajasthan Royals, though, that risk didn’t pay off, with Chakravarthy striking at crucial moments and removing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, and Riyan Parag in the top order.
Chakravarthy also pointed to conditions as a major reason KKR were able to impose themselves. He noted that the surface was a touch slower than expected and that it helped create the first genuine low-scoring thriller of the year, giving both the spinner and the rest of the bowling group more to work with.
“I would say it (pitch) was a little slow, but it was perfectly suitable for us and we made the most of it,” he said. “And I think we could have batted a little better in the middle, but all well. Yeah, we don’t know where we’ll end up, but we are just making a statement that we are not pushovers.”
With this result, KKR secured their first win of the season, bringing an end to a first half that began with five defeats and only a single point on the board. Even so, the squad believes the side still has plenty of quality and threat, and that the motivation to chase a trophy remains strong.
“We are just not coming here to participate. We are here to win every match. We are here to make a strong contention for the trophy. We still have hopes and I think we’re gonna do well from this,” Chakravarthy concluded.
