• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Varun Chakravarthy Will Be A Key Factor In The World Cup Says Virat Kohli

Varun Chakravarthy will be a key factor in the World Cup says Virat Kohli

Aryasekhar Chakraborty

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli heaped praises on mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy after his exceptional spell of spin bowling helped Kolkata Knight Riders restart their IPL campaign in a dramatic manner. The Virat Kohli led RCB was skittled out of a paltry 92 runs after batting first with Chakravarthy finishing with figures of 3/13 in his allotted 4 overs. 

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said that Chakravarthy will be a vital cog for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Before the abrupt suspension of the league back in May, Chakravarthy was at his best and continued the good work for his franchise. 

"Pretty good from Varun. He's going to be a key factor when he plays for India. It's great guys who've got the opportunity to play at the international level. He's someone who is going to play in the near future for India, it's a great sign," Kohli said about Chakravarthy. 

It was Kohli who won the toss and opted to bat. It was a disastrous start for RCB as they lost their skipper very early. After a few crisp shots from Devdutt Padikkal, he had to bite the dust as well. The KKR bowlers were all over the RCB middle-order batsmen, especially in the middle overs. 

AB de Villiers was castled for a golden duck by a sensational yorker from Andre Russell. Kohli said that it was a bit of a wake-up call for the team who is still at the 3rd position in the points table with 5 wins from 8 outings. 

"Was important to get a good partnership. We didn't expect that much dew to kick in that early. From 42 for 1, we lost 5 wickets for 20-odd. Bit of a wake-up call. Might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know what we should work on," Kohli said.

"We have five wins from eight, we expect a loss here and there, it's part and parcel, need to be professional, stick to our strengths and execute our plans. We have absolute confidence in our squad to pull up next game onwards and put in strong performances," Kohli further added. 

Discover more

Top Stories
news

Security tightened around New Zealand women's team in England after receiving threat

Security personnel has been tightened around the New Zealand women’s cricket team who is currently in England for a white ball series after a threat was received ahead of the 3rd ODI which is slated to be played in Leicester. However, the match is set to go on as the threat wasn’t deemed credible by New Zealand cricket. Reports in ESPNcricinfos states a member of the New Zealand team management received a threat about a bomb being placed at the team hotel. It must be learnt that they were also warned of a possible attempt of placing a bomb on their return flight to New Zealand. The team went into lockdown before police and counter-terrorism agencies were called up. It looked possible that the match could be called off after New Zealand players didn’t train at the Grace Road. However, the NZC spokesperson clarified that they were not supposed to train there and that has no bearing on the match going on. "As has been reported, the ECB have received a threatening email relating to NZC. Although this did not specifically reference the White Ferns it was treated seriously, investigated, and deemed not credible,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "The White Ferns have now arrived in Leicester and, as a precaution, security around them has been boosted. Reports their training has been cancelled are false. They were not scheduled to train today as it was a travelling day. NZC will not be commenting further on the matter,” he further added. It must be noted that the New Zealand men’s team recently aborted the tour of Pakistan on the day of the scheduled start of the ODI series. It is believed that they received a credible threat which prompted the hasty decision which has put Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under severe pressure. The pressure only mounted when even the English men’s team confirmed that they won’t be travelling to Pakistan either for the white ball tour.

news

Amidst cancelled tours and heartbreaks, PCB rope in Pakistan stars to cheer up fans in National T20

The turmoil in Pakistan cricket doesn’t seem to end as, after New Zealand’s sudden tour abandonment, England too decided to pull out from their proposed tour of the South Asian nation which was going to take place in October. Both of England’s Men’s and Women’s teams were about to tour Pakistan for two T20Is and an ODI and a T20I series respectively starting October 15. However, heeding the advice of the newly appointed Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Rameez Raja, the management decided to give something back to the fans and roped in all international stars for the upcoming National T20, the premier domestic t20 tournament for the country. The likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan will be seen plying their trades. Veterans like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfaraz Ahmed would also be playing in the league. PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja called this tournament an ideal opportunity for the Pakistan team to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup. “Following the postponement of the New Zealand series, the National T20 provides an opportunity to our elite cricketers to maintain their focus and composure, show the world that they have not been distracted by the events of last week and continue with their preparations for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” Raja was quoted as saying in a press release. The league would be played in two phases starting with the first phase f 15 matches at Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi and then the next phase of matches including the semi-final and the final at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Squads Balochistan – Imam-ul-Haq (captain), Bismillah Khan (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Akif Javed, Amad Butt, Ayaz Tasawar, Gohar Faiz, Haris Sohail, Jalat Khan, Junaid Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ibrahim Snr, Umaid Asif and Yasir Shah Central Punjab – Babar Azam (captain), Hasan Ali (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ahmed Shehzad, Ehsan Adil, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Hafeez, Qasim Akram, Saif Badar, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz and Waqas Maqsood Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi (vice-captain), Adil Amin, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Snr, Israrullah, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Mussadiq Ahmed and Sahibzada Farhan Northern – Shadab Khan (captain), Mohammad Nawaz (vice-captain), Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Ali Imran, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim, Musa Khan, Nasir Nawaz, Salman Irshad, Sohail Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umer Amin, Zaman Khan and Zeeshan Malik Sindh – Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain and wicketkeeper), Anwar Ali (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahsan Ali, Danish Aziz, Hassan Mohsin, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Taha, Ruman Raees, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sharjeel Khan and Zahid Mahmood Southern Punjab – Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf (vice-captain), Amir Yamin, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Dilbar Hussain, Faisal Akram, Hassan Khan, Imran Randhawa, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Umer Khan, Zain Abbas and Zia-ul-Haq

news

IPL 2021 | KKR vs RCB: Hits & Flops as Kolkata annihilate Virat Kohli’s men in his 200th IPL appearance

It was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s skipper Virat Kohli’s 200th appearance in the Indian Premier League, but instead of getting memorable, it turned out to be something that he would hardly even want to remember or consider as a part of his long illustrious career. His team was beaten by nine wickets as the target f 93 set up by them, after getting bowled out within 20 overs, was chased down by the Knight Riders within 10 overs to rub all the salt that there might be on the open wounds of the Challenges. Although RCB might be reeling from disappointment in their first venture in the UAE leg of the league which they were almost bossing in India in May this year, for KKR, it was a welcome change as it turned out to be their only third win this season from eight games and pushed them straight to number five on the points table courtesy of outstanding improvements in the net run rate. By the way, this was also the 200th game for KKR, so one way or the other, one of the 200th games remain memorable. As it happens with every game, it has its heroes and its villains for every team and we call them Hits and Flops here at OneCricket so let’s get started. Hits Varun Chakravarthy It would be hard to count him out especially after what he did with the last standing hopes of the RCB, removing Glenn Maxwell and Wanindu Hasaranga in two consecutive deliveries just when a partnership seemed to be developing. His googlies had no answers from the batters of the team in light blue and the variations turned out to be too good to be read well by any o the lower-order batters. The 30-year-old spinner eventually finished with figures of 3/13 in his four overs as apart from Hasaranga and Maxwell, he also removed Sachin Baby. Chakravarthy was hence rightly selected as Man of the Match for his performance. Andre Russell He is expected to win the games with the bat in crunch situations for the Knight Riders as he is basically their crisis man. But what he did today with the ball was simply outstanding. He not only removed the most dangerous batsman Ab de Villiers with a toe crushing yorker but was also able to finish the innings and get the opposition bowled out by removing Mohammad Sira on the last ball of the 19th over even as TV commentators speculated on the ideas of who would ball the 20th over for the men in purple. The man from Jamaica, after removing Siraj finished with figures of 3/9 from three overs as he had also put Srkkar Bharat out of his miserable stay at the crease to claim his second wicket in the game and Siraj was his third. Eoin Morgan He might not have bowled, neither was he required to bat, but his genius in the field as a skipper was marvellous and a thing of mastery. The bowling changes, of bringing in a quick Prasidh Krishna and asking him to try and move the ball to Kohli, changing the ends of Lockie Ferguson and Andre Russell to deny predictability and finally bringing in Chakravarthy to take the ball away from Maxwell, just as he was settling in was like ticking all the boxes. And Morgan did tick all the boxes. It seemed as if vintage morgan was at the display with all his manoeuvring and as a result, the Knight Riders registered their biggest win of the season. Flops Virat Kohli There are a lot of flops, to say the least as the entire RCB team got down for just 92 on the board. Picking out the worst two seems like rather difficult a task, maybe more difficult than RCB trying to get to at least 100 runs in their skipper’s 200th game! However, if the ship sinks, the leader must shoulder the blame, especially if the reason for starting the sinking is the captain of the ship itself. Kohli getting out was disastrous. The delivery on which he got out was not an unplayable ball what so ever and for a player of his stature, it would be definitely considered a failure if he is unable to stay at the crease for a long period of time and gets out on such deliveries. In the field too, his captaincy was languid and bowling changes looked forced rather than fluid. He can’t be pinned for all things worse, but this was a game that he would like to forget as soon as possible. Wanindu Hasaranga World number two T20I bowler and also known to wield the willow, it was a harrowing debut for the Sri Lankan in the IPL. not only did he get out for a golden duck, but he also wasn’t able to look like his shadow best with the ball. It is true that he had almost nothing to play with as a leg spinner, defending a total of 92 and that he was brought in very late in the fourth over when he should have been on right from the first one, but his trajectory of balls was all over the place and he seemed like lacking a lot of things, confidence included. Much like his skipper, the trump card in UAE would look to forget this unforgettable experience as soon as possible and get ready for the next challenge as Playoffs is still in sight for the RCB. Special Mention: Shubman Gill & Venkatesh Iyer The two players might not be considered as impactful as a Russell of Chakravarthy, but what they did was extremely important to boost the morale of the Knight Riders. Not only did they play without any fear and got quick runs. but they also managed to revive the almost dead run rate of their team. Considering the fact how young Gill is and this being the debut for Iyer, it was more than a brilliant opening partnership in which they added 82 in just nine overs. In their next game, the RCB play table-toppers Chennai Super Kings while the Knights would look to ride the money into their clash with the Mumbai Indians.