KKR spin bowler Varun Chakravarthy dedicated his Player of the Match award to his newborn son after a 21-run victory against RCB on April 26. Chakravarthy registered figures of 3/27 while defending 201 runs in the second innings and complemented Suyash Sharma (2/30) to inspire an RCB batting collapse. His first victim was Glenn Maxwell, who intended to clear mid-off but spliced it towards David Wiese.
Varun Chakravarthy intercepted the 55-run partnership between Kohli and Lomror with Lomror’s dismissal in the 12th over. Bowling a half-tracker in the 18th over, he got the better of RCB wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Chakravarthy was awarded Player of the Match for his outstanding spell that inspired KKR’s first win in their last five games. During the post-match presentation, he dedicated his award to his son Aathman and wife Neha Khedekar. He said:
“I would like to credit this to my newborn son – I’m still not able to see him, but I would like to dedicate this to him and my wife.”
“Nothing much, that’s how the game of cricket is”: Varun Chakravarthy
Varun Chakravarthy picked up just one wicket and conceded 49 runs in KKR’s 49-run loss against CSK on April 23. The KKR spinner was taken to the cleaners by Shivam Dube and Rahane at Eden Gardens. Speaking on his comeback in Wednesday’s game against RCB, Chakravarthy said:
“Nothing much; that’s how the game of cricket is. Last match, I went for 49; this match, I did well. That’s how crazy life is. More focused on my accuracy than more variations. I didn’t want to add more variations. I thought it was time to be more accurate.”
Chakravarthy has picked up 13 wickets in eight matches in IPL 2023 at an average of 18.38 and an economy rate of 8.06. KKR will next play against the Gujarat Titans on April 29.