Having delivered a match-turning spell of 3 for 14 to help Kolkata Knight Riders register their first victory of IPL 2026, Varun Chakravarthy insisted he wasn\u2019t looking to attach a \u201cmic-drop\u201d narrative to the day. Instead, the spinner pointed to the slower nature of Eden Gardens on Sunday afternoon and argued that T20 wickets offering assistance to slower bowlers are what truly make them effective.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, Chakravarthy played down the significance of the three-wicket haul as a headline statement. He said that cricket simply doesn\u2019t work that way, and that if the next surface offers no grip or pace for spinners, similar figures will naturally follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, just because I took three wickets today, I don\u2019t want to make a sweeping statement and all. That\u2019s the nature of the game,\u201d he said. \u201cNext match, if the wicket has nothing in it, that\u2019s going to happen [conceding more runs] to every spinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further explained that early in the tournament spinners were travelling with the ball, but as conditions shift, their influence grows. \u201cAs you can see, initially [in the tournament] every spinner was traveling. So that\u2019s how it is. Once the pitches start slowing down, that\u2019s how we start coming into the game and we start being more effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chakravarthy acknowledged that there were \u201csome tears in the dugout\u201d after KKR\u2019s chase took a dramatic turn in the final stretch. A determined seventh-wicket partnership between Rinku Singh and Anukul Roy pulled the side from 85 for 6 to the finish line in the final over.<\/p>\n
KKR were chasing 156, and Varun\u2019s spell played a key role in ensuring the target looked manageable as the game moved into its closing phases.<\/p>\n
When Chakravarthy came into the attack, Rajasthan Royals were positioned at 79 for 0 after eight overs, with the openers\u2014along with the batters set to follow\u2014poised to impose their rhythm. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was close to a half-century, needing only one more boundary, but Varun removed the teenager in just four deliveries.<\/p>\n
First, he angled one across the batter earlier in the over. Then he went full on the middle, getting the ball to turn. Sooryavanshi misjudged his slog toward midwicket and was caught in the deep.<\/p>\n
From there, Varun continued to bowl \u201ccramping lines.\u201d During his opening overs he kept the ball quiet\u2014allowing little beyond dots and singles\u2014forcing Dhruv Jurel to think ahead and plan his shots to avoid any stagnation in the run rate.<\/p>\n
Jurel was completely caught out by a full ball that darted outside off. He committed early to a reverse sweep and was stumped, as Varun\u2019s control left him with no margin to adjust.<\/p>\n
The third breakthrough came in the 15th over, when Riyan Parag was dismissed. Varun\u2019s work had gradually squeezed the batter, and the wicket arrived as a culmination of that pressure. After setting him up with deliveries worked across the line, he bowled a googly on a short-of-a-length outside off that turned in, beating Parag\u2019s slog across the line and crashing into the stumps.<\/p>\n
Chakravarthy said the approach is simple when the pitch carries something. \u201cAgain sir, once there is something in the pitch, I go back to my strength,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cMy strength is to keep attacking the stumps. But if there is nothing in the pitch, that\u2019s when bowlers start searching, they start getting confused, they are clueless, which happens to everyone. It has happened to the best of the best. So, no one can be judged with just one match of good performance and bad performance also.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main credit has to go to the coaching staff because they didn\u2019t let the outside noise affect us,\u201d Chakravarthy said. \u201cBecause there were too many people floating around with judgments, which were totally baseless. So at such times you need a very strong core that supports you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Chakravarthy, the spell was a reminder of how dangerous he can be when conditions allow him to bowl to his strengths. Even so, the next four matches are all on the road for KKR, and he may well face more batter-friendly surfaces. Still, he will carry the confidence of what he proved at Eden Gardens on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Having delivered a match-turning spell of 3 for 14 to help Kolkata Knight Riders register their first victory of IPL 2026, Varun Chakravarthy insisted he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Varun Chakravarthy on IPL Return: Eden Gardens Pitch","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Varun Chakravarthy explains his IPL 2026 surge at Eden Gardens, saying the slower pitch helped him strike\u2014plus why one match shouldn\u2019t change the narrative.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n