IPL 2026 - KKR vs SRH - Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan and Sanjay Bangar on Varun Chakravarthy

Rahane bowled Varun in the fifth over, and Abhishek Sharma hit him for two sixes and three fours to take out 25 runs. Varun later bowled the 11th over, conceding just six runs and did not bowl again in the match. Generally he only had the one spot ball. But the positive for KKR was left-arm spinner Anukul Roy. He is fresh from a Player of the Series performance with Jharkhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and against SRH, bowling two overs for 16 runs and taking one wicket.

“Sometimes you have to see the mentality of the bowler, what he is going through,” Rahane said at the post-match press conference when asked why Varun bowled only two overs. “It is not mandatory to bowl four overs. If he is struggling, you have to accept that he is struggling. I wanted Varun to bowl four overs, but the way their batsmen have gone… Anukul has bowled two very good overs.

“He is playing because he did very well in the Mushtaq Ali (Trophy); he was the Man of the Series in the Mushtaq Ali (Trophy). He can bowl in the powerplay, and he can bowl in the middle overs. It is not mandatory (to bowl the full quota) at all. If Sunil (Narine) is struggling (in a game or two), you might see who is bowling over that particular game. day, what happens in the game, you have to read that situation and accordingly decided

“Varun is a team man. He goes through that phase where he needs that support from everyone. Sometimes just two overs can help a player. Or one over. Or no overs. We want Varun’s confidence throughout the tournament.”

However, Pathan was having none of it and was particularly critical of Rahane for bowling the out-of-form Varun in the clash. For the record, Varun also bowled the fifth over KKR’s first match of IPL 2026against Mumbai Indians, conceding 15 runs in it. He finished with none for 48 from his four.

“Captain plays a big role in getting your confidence as a bowler,” Pathan said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut programme. “If he doesn’t back you up in a moment where you think you can do better and you have the momentum, that’s where the leadership comes in. And that’s why he shouldn’t have bowled in the showdown. You lose on a bowler, you know, who can be your trump card, who can be your match winner, who was your match winner.

“You give him the tough job as a captain. So, that’s where Ajinkya Rahane did really well in the second half. But (in the) first half (he) literally messed it up with Varun Chakravarthy by bowling him in the power play.”

At the start of the T20 World Cup earlier this year, Varun was called “a cheat code” for India in the same vein as Jasprit Bumrah. But in his last six matches before the one against SRH, at the World Cup and then against MI, Varun conceded 273 runs in 23 overs, leaving him with an economy of 11.86, the worst for any bowler over a six-match series (for a minimum of 20 overs) in men’s T20s.

However, Bangar understood where Rahane was coming from.

“I think he (Varun) bowled a good second over because he went for, what, 25 runs in the first over, and then came back and bowled a very good second over,” Bangar said. “And I just feel that (Varun) doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence at the moment, and that’s the reason why Ajinkya is not using him. He could have been used (more) but with three spinners (Roy and Narine the others), you can understand what he was trying to do.

“Along with that, I felt the use of slow balls got really good in terms of how batsmen weren’t able to get the ball or get those airs. Because (Heinrich) Klassen was trying to hit those sixes. Even Nitish Reddy was trying to get under the ball but they just couldn’t get the meat of the bat.

“So, smart thinking of Ajinkya Rahane to persevere more with the seamers, because if he was so low on confidence as far as Varun was concerned, he could have used more of Anukul, which he clearly didn’t. Yeah, I mean, seven sixes in that innings came in the power play, and only two outside after that. So six hits just wasn’t easy.”