IPL 2023: My heartbeat was touching 200 in last over… says Varun Chakaravarthy after winning game against SRH

Varun Chakaravarthy's cool head wins the game for KKR in the last over.

Chasing 10 runs off the last over, one will always back the batting team to cross the line, and that too against a spinner. But Varun Chakaravarthy had different plans for tonight as he did not allow the SRH batters to cross the line. Varun splurged only three runs in the last over to make sure that KKR remain in the hunt for IPL 2023 qualification. After a horror in the middle overs for KKR, as Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen were cruising away with the game, a collected team effort made sure that things weren't entirely out of hand for KKR.

In the post-match presentation, Player of the Match Varun Chakaravarthy said, "My heartbeat was touching 200 in the last over, but I wanted them to hit to the longer part of the ground. The ball was slipping a lot and my best bet was the longer side and that was my only hope. My first over went for 12 runs, Markram hit me for 2 fours and that's how the game goes. Last year I was bowling around 85kmph, I was trying out many things and I realized that I needed to work on my revolutions and I did work on it."

Nitish Rana's backing for his spinners bears fruition

KKR have one of the most potent spin attacks in Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarhty, Suyash Sharma, and Anukul Roy. Although Sunil Narine has been the leader of the pack for years, he hasn't been at his best this year. Varun Chakaravarthy has taken over the reins and the captain, Nitish Rana's faith in him has resulted in success for the team tonight.

"In the middle, we bowled a few loose overs and took a gamble with Shardul and Vaibhav and they managed to get both set batters and that's how we made a comeback in this game. We had to get them out because if they bat till the end, then surely the game would have gone out of our reach. I had a doubt if I had to go with a spinner/pacer and backed my spinner to do the job. I always see who is the best spinner in the game and that's how I decide whom to back on the given day." Rana said after the match.

Aiden Markram's team once again fumbles at the end of the chase

It has not been the first time when SRH have given a game that was theirs in the end overs. Faltering once again to close out the game, SRH are now in a precarious position to qualify for the playoffs. On the performance of his team, captain Aiden Markram said, "Difficult. Had to play good cricket in the last portion but we got it wrong. Hard to swallow. Klaasen batted beautifully, I struggled in the beginning and that was part of the reason we ended up short."

"The bowlers were good, we were throwing ourselves on the field. The batters also got started. Tough one to take, we learn from this. If we can’t execute, we need to go back in the nets and plan better. These guys have played at this venue so we know what to expect. (On every game being a must-win now) Hopefully, the situation brings out the best in us. Hopefully, we can go four out of four to give ourselves an outside chance."