Varun Chakravarthy ended up on the losing side for the first time in IPL 2024 as Kolkata Knight Riders succumbed to their first defeat against Chennai Super Kings on Monday. KKR never got going at the Chepauk Stadium on Monday as CSK cruised to victory with over two overs to spare. After the match, Chakravarthy admitted that the wicket came as a surprise for the team as they were expecting it to be flat.
It was an underwhelming performance for KKR to say the least. They struggled with the bat after being put in to bat first. Boundaries were hard to come by as CSK kept a tight leash, bowling a good length and mixing their pace well. KKR ended up with just 137 runs on the board. CSK knew there task at hand while chasing and kept rotating strike to release most pressure. CSK skipper led the chase with an unbeaten half-century as they won by 7 seven wickets.
‘Pitch was very slow’
In the post-match press conference, Varun Chakravarthy said they erred on assessing the pitch.
“I think we could have assessed the pitch better. The pitch was very slow, especially in the first half. It was very tough to connect the shots but I felt 160 would have been a par score. When I saw the wicket even I thought it was a flat wicket but it behaved very differently. As I said, 160 in this wicket would have a fantastic score to defend,” he said.
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Dew factor
The dew factor also came in to play as Chakravarthy said he found it hard to grip the ball, especially in the last over.
“Yeah there was a lot of dew during the innings. Definitely the last over I was bowling to Dube made a lot of difference. The seam was very wet and I couldn’t grip the ball much,” he said.
Executing plans become important
On being asked if he had any plans for Shivam Dube, Chakravarthy said, “Nothing extraordinary. We had plans for every batter. Everyone has plans but to execute it becomes important.”
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