Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy has revealed how franchise co-owner Shah Rukh Khan reacted after the team’s embarrassing loss to the Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens last week.
KKR seemed destined to win the game against the struggling team after posting a mammoth total of 261/6 in the allotted 20 overs. Not many expected PBKS to even challenge KKR, let alone defeat 262, a feat no team had achieved until this game.
However, the PBKS batters took the KKR bowlers to the cleaners and chased down the total in less than 19 overs to create the biggest chase in the history of T20s. Jonny Bairstow scored a blistering century while Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh hit blistering fifties.
KKR recovers in style:
After the crushing defeat against PBKS, KKR had to show immense character against Delhi Capitals on Monday (April 29) and their bowlers did just that. Led by Varun Chakravarthy’s 3-wicket haul, the two-time champions restricted the DC for 9 in 20 overs to 153.
Chakravarthy dismissed the dangerous Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs and Kumar Kushagra and finished the game with impressive figures of 3 for 16. Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana also took two wickets each. With the bat, KKR chased down total victory in 17 overs thanks to Phil Salt’s whirlwind fifty.
Varun Chakravarthy reveals Shah Rukh Khan’s reaction:
After the impressive win over DC, Varun Chakravarthy revealed how Shah Rukh Khan reacted after the team failed to defend 261. The spinner revealed that Shah Rukh Khan motivated the players instead of showing disappointment or displeasure.
“In the last game, after conceding so many runs, it was a tough pill to swallow but the whole team motivated us. Abhishek Nayar and even Shah Rukh Khan came and spoke to me, that definitely motivated us.” Chakravarthy said.
Chakravarthy, who was also named player of the match, further commented on the field and said:
“It (the pitch) held up a little bit, as the game progressed in the second inning it also turned.” [on him having a good match-up against Pant] Nothing like that, when the catch was dropped I felt that was a better ball and the one I gave him would have gone for a six for other reasons. “Cricket has become a high-margin game,” Chakravarthy said.
The win was KKR’s sixth in the ninth game. They are currently in second place in the IPL 2024 points table and are heading into the playoffs.