Varun Chakravarthy, who has had a troubled season since the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 knockouts, showed glimpses of promising form as KKR defeated Rajasthan Royals on their home ground at the Eden Gardens.
In this season of IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders are constantly struggling with the ball. Although their batsmen have not shown promising form, they have managed to post some good scores which the bowlers have failed to defend.
Due to this, KKR could not win a single game in the season and are looking for their first win even after playing five matches this season. However, the performances of their leading wicket-taker Varun Chakravarthy have been disappointing in the last few seasons.
Varun Chakravarthy regains form with brilliant bowling against RR
Varun Chakravarthy has not been in good form since the Super 8 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, when he failed to perform for India with the ball. Despite this, he became the bowler taking the highest wicket in the World Cup.
Coming back to the IPL, Chakraborty struggled to bowl well and show great form as he was thrashed by the batsmen in the first two matches of the season. Subsequently, he suffered an injury and missed two matches for the Knights.
Making a comeback in the previous game, Chakraborty took two wickets against Gujarat Titans, where he kept the Knights in the game till the last over of the game by dismissing Jos Buttler and Washington Sundar.
Chakraborty returned to Eden Gardens with some confidence. In the Knights’ den, he created a storm by dismissing three of RR’s most useful batsmen. He brought success to the team by taking the wicket of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and then also dismissed Dhruv Jurel and captain Ryan Parag. He took 3 wickets for 14 runs in his 4 overs.
Varun Chakraborty’s new T20 record
Indian bowlers having impressive T20 records is nothing new; However, Varun Chakravarthy has made a record in his name by completing 200 wickets in the shortest format of the game.
The spinner plays domestic T20 for his state team, while representing India at the international level and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He has also featured in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and all wickets taken will be taken into account.
In his new record achievement, he is the second fastest among Indian bowlers to take 200 T20 wickets behind only Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. He left behind players like Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Shami.
Fastest to 200 T20 wickets (Indians):
- Arshdeep Singh – 151 matches
- Varun Chakraborty – 155 matches
- Kuldeep Yadav – 160 matches
- Jaydev Unadkat -162 matches
- Mohammed Shami – 165 matches
Will the RR match be the dawn of a new dawn for KKR?
KKR’s most successful bowler helped them make a strong comeback with the ball and was wonderfully supported by Sunil Narine and young Indian fast bowler Karthik Tyagi, who also took important wickets in the match.
Kolkata managed to restrict them to a total of 155 runs in 20 overs, which is a big positive sign for the weakest bowling team in this edition of the IPL. This could be the first good chance for the Knights to register their first win of the season.
Also read: Varun Chakraborty defeats Riyan Parag in KKR vs RR match
