Following Kolkata Knight Riders’ emphatic 80-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on Thursday, spinner Varun Chakravarthy expressed delight over the team’s performance and praised key contributors Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, and Rinku Singh.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Varun said, “It was a very good inning by Angkrish, the way Venky took it deep and Rinku finished it. I thought we were 10 runs over par and felt confident we could defend it. Vaibhav was outstanding—every wicket he took was crucial. He captained us for the first time (referring to Ajinkya Rahane) and really delivered. We didn’t want to leave it for later—Andre Russell is our best death bowler, but we wanted to close things out early.”
Varun also acknowledged the threat posed by Heinrich Klaasen, calling him the “best batter in the format” and emphasized the importance of consistency. “The last two days were tough after that heavy defeat. Our talk was to stay at the crease, build an innings, and finish strong. In T20, nothing is guaranteed—you could bowl well today and still go for runs next time. Just stick to the process: train, stay focused, and deliver. It was a perfect game for us today, and we need to build on this momentum.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to field, a decision that seemed justified early as Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine fell cheaply, leaving KKR struggling at 16/2. However, a strong counterattack followed, led by Ajinkya Rahane (38 off 27) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (50 off 32), who stabilized the innings.
Following their dismissals, Venkatesh Iyer (60 off 29) and Rinku Singh (32* off 17) powered KKR to a formidable 200/6 with a blistering 91-run stand for the fifth wicket.
SRH’s bowling was led by Mohammed Shami (1/29) and Harshal Patel (1/43), but they struggled to contain the run flow.
In response, SRH’s chase never got going. Wickets tumbled regularly as Vaibhav Arora (3/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/22) ran through the batting order. Only Heinrich Klaasen (33 off 21) and Kamindu Mendis (27 off 20) offered brief resistance, but the rest of the lineup faltered.
With this convincing win, KKR now have two wins and two losses from four matches, placing them fifth in the standings. SRH, with one win and three defeats, find themselves at the bottom of the table.
(With ANI inputs)
