Varun Chakaravarthy has his revenge as KKR breezily end SRH’s winning run | Cricket News

However, the tables turned on Sunday. Chakaravarthy has shown that he has learned his lessons, demonstrating greater diversity in line and length. Chakaravarthy’s first scalp in the afternoon was Travis Head. The Aussie turns into a raging bull when given room outside the off-stump, and the Kolkata bowlers kept showing him that red cloth as Head breezed through his half-century. Then, the architect constructed a smart ninth over. He started by floating fuller ones outside the off-stump, letting Head free his hands. A dot followed a six now that the trap was set, as Head was comfortable. On the final delivery, Chakaravarthy bowled flatter and quicker on the leg-stump, cramping Head for room. Though the Aussie picked up the length, he was surprised by the pace, and the catch was taken at square-leg.

Then Smaran Ravichandran got an orthodox Chakaravarthy delivery on the stumps. The Karnataka batter on his debut premeditated the next ball and charged down the track, showing his cards early. Chakaravarthy pulled his length back, moved away from the stumps, and threw it outside off-stump. The southpaw did not adjust and miscued the shot.

For Aniket Verma’s wicket, Rahane deployed a slip, and Chakaravarthy tossed up deliveries trying to flight the ball in the 14th over. One came in, one went away. Aniket did not know what to expect from the third ball he bowled: a wild slog that ran for a boundary after taking the edge. Aniket tried the same again on the following delivery, but it failed this time because Chakaravarthy further slowed down his pace. Aniket could only hit the ball as far as a fielder within the 30-yard circle.

Chasing template

Chasing 166 runs, Kolkata knew exactly the template. When the ball comes nicely onto the bat in the powerplay, make the most of it, and after that, play some sensible cricket to get over the line. That is exactly what the visitors did. Finn Allen made his comeback into the side and slapped 29 runs from just 13 deliveries. He delivered the killer blow by attacking SRH’s bowling leader, Cummins, for 27 runs in the fourth over. Although Cummins had redemption by picking Allen, the tone was set for the rest of the essay. Knight Riders got 71 from the power play.

Rahane partnered with Angkrish Raghuvanshi and sensibly scored 84 runs off 66 balls. This duo has been questioned this tournament regarding their tempo, but on Sunday, there were no such worries. All they had to do was stick to their styles and wait for the errors made by SRH bowlers trying too hard to push for a wicket. The way Allen attacked strike bowler Cummins, Raghuvanshi took a liking to SRH’s weapon, Eshan Malinga. The youngster did not allow Malinga to settle in his spell, smashing 23 runs from just 11 deliveries; completely nullifying the wicket-taking threat.

Rahane at the other end played his part by chipping in with a 36-ball 43, supporting Raghuvanshi. Although Sakib Hussain and Shivang Kumar picked the wickets of Rahane and Raghuvanshi, respectively, the game was already decided by then, with the scoring rate already dipping under six.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 165 all out in 19 overs (Head 61, Kishan 42; Varun 3-36) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 169 for 3 in 18.2 overs (Raghuvanshi 59, Rahane 43) by seven wickets.