Focussed more on accuracy, says Varun

BENGALURU: Kolkata Knight Riders leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy said that he is reaping the benefits of focussing more on accuracy than using variations.

The 31-year-old Varun was the pick of the KKR bowlers in his side’s 21-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday, returning impressive figures of 3/27 from his four overs. Varun has picked up 13 wickets in eight matches in this Indian Premier League season, emerging as one of the shining lights in a struggling Knight Riders team.

“I have worked more on my accuracy rather than working on different variations. Another aspect I was working on was revolutions on the ball. I was working with AC Prathiban. He is my spin coach back in Chennai, so it definitely worked,” Varun said.

“More than that, tactics, whatever Abhishek Nayar (KKR assistant coach) tells, it always works for me. They both have played a very good role in my comeback.” Varun, who was part of the India squad in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, had a forgettable IPL last year when he took only six wickets in 11 matches.

‘Watched videos of RCB batters’

On Wednesday, Varun bagged the crucial wickets of Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik to put Kolkata on top against Bangalore. The Tamil Nadu player said that he prepared well by watching videos of his past matches against the Bengaluru side.

“It is a very challenging ground (Chinnaswamy). We had our own plans. We made sure that we had a separate meeting for bowling on this ground. It worked out. I did watch videos of previous matches when I played against RCB. I could see the technical aspects of the batsmen (batters), where they were targeting. I was focusing on that,” said Varun.

“You have to be confident in every ball you bowl. If you slip in your confidence, the effort is not going to translate in your bowling,” added Varun.