The Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad encounter in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday saw Nitish Rana‘s men pull off a spectacular win that looked unlikely at one point in the game. Needing just 38 runs in the final 5 overs, the Sunrisers literally choked in the run-chase, all thanks to a magical bowling performance from Varun Chakravarthy. The veteran spinner, tasked with the responsibility of defending 8 runs in the final over of the game, was deservedly named the Player of the Match.
With Abdul Samad and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the middle, the Sunrisers needed 9 runs from the final over to win the match. However, Chakravarthy only gave away 3 runs from the 6 balls, while also picking the wicket of Samad to hand the Knight Riders a 5-run win.
“My heartbeat was touching 200 in the last over, but I wanted them to make it to the longer part of the ground. The ball was slipping a lot and my best bet was the longer side and that was my only hope. My first over I went for 12 runs, Markram hit me for 2 fours and that’s how the game goes,” Chakravarthy said in the presentation ceremony.
VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY – THE HERO OF KKR.
He defended 9 runs in the final over – 1, 1, W, 0, 1, 0 pic.twitter.com/VDh9gv1xWa
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 4, 2023
It isn’t just the final over where Chakravarthy pulled the Knight Riders back into the game. He bowled a total of 3 overs at the death, with the other two being the 16th and the 18th overs. In those two overs too, Chakravarthy proved to be too tough to hit. The mystery spinner only gave away 9 runs cumulatively in those two overs, finishing with the overall figures of 1/20 in 4 overs.
Speaking of the variations he has brought into his bowling, Varun said after the game: “Last year I was bowling around 85kmph, I was trying out many things and I realized that I needed to work on my revolutions and I did work on it.”
Chasing down 38 runs from 30 balls wasn’t a big ask for any team on any given surface. But, with his economical three overs at the death, Varun Chakravarthy literally made the Sunrisers Hyderabad choke.
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