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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy was adjudged the Player of the Match for his economical figures of 1/20 as his side beat SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five runs on Thursday, May 4.
Chakravarthy had only nine runs to defend in the last over of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He did an excellent job, conceding only three runs, while also taking the wicket of Abdul Samad.
The 31-year-old was named Player of the Match as KKR successfully defended a total of 171/9. The spinner has been in good form in IPL 2023. In 10 matches so far, he has picked up 14 wickets at an average of 21.50 and an economy rate of 7.99.
He registered brilliant figures of 4/15 in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. When the two teams met again in Bengaluru, the leggie again dominated proceedings, returning with figures of 3/27.
Chakravarthy’s fortunes have witnessed drastic shifts over the last couple of years. He was picked for the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE on the back of a memorable IPL 2021 season. The Tamil Nadu cricketer, however, had a forgettable World Cup campaign, going wicketless in the three matches that he played and looking rather pedestrian.
In the wake of impressive performances in IPL 2023, he seems to be in a great bowling rhythm.
On that note, we analyze three ways in which Chakravarthy has improved since the 2021 T20 World Cup.
#1 Varun Chakravarthy is a lot more accurate
Being a difficult art to master, most leg spinners are not known to be accurate. Accuracy is something that has not been Chakravarthy’s forte as well. But this IPL season, he has been excellent with his consistency in line and length, so much so that KKR skipper Nitish Rana trusted him over a pacer when it came to bowling the last over against SRH. The leggie delivered and how!
If we glance through his IPL performance last year, he had an economy rate of 8.51. Chakravarthy has done much better this season, maintaining an economy rate of under EIGHT.
Speaking after his three-fer against RCB, Chakravarthy admitted that he has been working on his accuracy. He commented:
“I have worked more on my accuracy rather than working on different variations.”
The cricketer’s hard work behind the scenes seems to be bearing fruit as he has clearly looked like a different bowler in IPL 2023.
#2 He has worked on his revolutions
Apart from accuracy, Chakravarthy has worked on his revolutions as well, which has definitely made him a lot more lethal. The bite was missing in his bowling during the last IPL season when he picked up only six wickets in 11 matches at an average of 55.33 and a strike rate of 39.
Discussing about te improvement in his revolutions, Chakravarthy said while speaking to the media:
“Another aspect I was working on was revolutions on the ball. I was working with AC Prathiban. He’s my spin coach back in Chennai, so it definitely worked.”
In his latest interaction with the press after Thursday’s performance, he shed more light on what has changed in his game technically. The bowler explained:
"Last year, I was bowling around 85 kph. Somewhere I had lost my speed. So I went back, tried many things, and realized that once my revolutions go down, my speed automatically goes down. So I started working on my revs, and it helped."
Undoubtedly, better revolutions seem to be producing much better results for Chakravarthy.
#3 He looks a lot more confident
When the leg-spinner was struggling to make an impact during the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, he just seemed to lack confidence. His body language was down and he never even threatened to take a wicket. It wasn’t surprising then that he drew a blank in the wickets column.
Chakravarthy did pick up a few wickets in IPL 2022 but was clearly lacking when it came to confidence and positive body language. This season, he has looked a lot more assertive and that has also helped him deliver the goods.
Praising the KKR bowler after his performance against SRH, former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh noted:
"Varun Chakravarthy bowled tight lines all along the death overs against SRH. He changed his angle and showed confidence in the final over to defend nine runs.”
Chakravarthy’s impressive form augurs well for KKR as they look to stay alive in the qualification race for the IPL 2023 playoffs.
