Retaining Varun Chakravarthy is debatable, but definitely does make sense

Varun Chakravarthy was at the peak of his powers in the last two editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), scalping 17 wickets in IPL 2020 and 18 wickets in IPL 2021. He maintained an economy rate of under seven runs an over in both seasons and ended up as the leading wicket-taker for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Chakravarthy, formerly an architect by profession, was instrumental in helping his franchise register an easy six-wicket win against defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2022’s curtain-raiser. He outfoxed Robin Uthappa there and conceded just 23 off his four overs. However, it was against a considerably weak CSK batting lineup, where even Moeen Ali was not there.

The Purple and Gold Brigade’s next challenge was against Punjab Kings, a fearsome side who chased down 206 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their tournament opener with an over to spare. But Chakravarthy did not hold back against the wide range of power-hitters. In fact, he staged a better show than in his outing against CSK with exceptional control and sheer cunning as the opposition only managed 14 off his four overs there.

The KKR has always been boasting of having a spin-heavy bowling attack, but Narine and Chakravarthy have combined to form a revolutionary duo for the franchise with their ability to turn the ball both ways.

He was reasonably bowling tightly in the first four games when the batters struggled to pick him more often than not. But in the last two contests, against Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals respectively, he was smashed all around the park.  He bowled seven overs across two games, returning expensive combined figures of 1-89.

However, the architect himself was not surprised after the recent onslaught. “It is bound to happen, people will have plans against me. Last year in the Indian leg, I had six to seven wickets in seven matches. Later on, I picked up more wickets, so you cannot predict how many wickets you are going to get,” Chakravarthy told PTI.

The re-emergence of Kuldeep Yadav for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the ongoing edition has triggered the decision of retaining Chakravarthy even more. The left-arm wrist-spinner was not a regular for his former franchise KKR ever since Chakravarthy took the limelight. His statistics for them in the last two editions were not great either, taking just five wickets in 14 matches.

In cricket, you are bound to be hit. The best spinner right now is Rashid (Khan) and even he has gone for runs (in some matches) but he is still the best. It happens in a few matches, you will have a bad day and you just need to bounce back."

Varun Chakravarthy

All in all, in an era where mystery wrist spinners are hard to find, it was a smart move by KKR to keep Chakravarthy on their roster. Besides, his consistent performances in the past two IPL editions were so noteworthy that he deserves a place on this team. He will surely come back to his best roaring, and his last two outings were nothing but the bad days in the office.

One cannot ignore his last season’s leading wicket-taker ahead of the new edition. Chakravarthy was on the back of achieving the feat twice, and the KKR did no mistake by retaining him at a significant price.