Following victory over the Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Varun Chakravarthy said that such wins will give his team the much-needed momentum for the remaining campaign in the IPL 2025. With this victory, the Knight Riders are at sixth spot with five wins and five losses, giving them 10 points and keeping their defence alive. On the other hand, the Royals are in eighth, with three wins and nine losses, giving them six points.
Speaking at the post-match press conference about the win, Varun Chakravarthy said, “Such wins will give us momentum and give us the self-belief that we can pull off tight matches. And this is exactly what we needed this time. So from here, I’m hopeful that we can pull off the next three matches. We have done it before. So no excuses from us here.”
Chasing 207 runs, RR was 71/5, but a 92-run stand between Parag and Shimron Hetmyer and fireworks from Shubham Dubey and Jofra Archer almost took them home, until the pair failed to complete a double on the final ball to push the match into a Super Over.
A magnificent fighting 95 from skipper Riyan Parag went in vain as the Ajinkya Rahane-led side held their nerves to deny the Rajasthan-based franchise a win, leaving them one run short.
Further, the 33-year-old player said that they have to win all the remaining matches in the ongoing 18th edition of the cash-rich league as every game from here on is “knockout” for them.
“We have to win all the matches; it becomes a knockout. So we are of the mindset that we still have six knockout games, three here and two in the playoffs — five knockout games. Every game is a knockout from here, so you have to bring our A game, and good that we had this win, from that we’d be able to get a good momentum into the next game,” the mystery spinner added.
Coming to the match, KKR won the toss and opted to bat first.
After Sunil Narine was dismissed cheaply, a half-century stand between skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (35 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and a six) steadied the ship. A 61-run stand for the fourth wicket between Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 in 31 balls, with five fours) and Andre Russell (57* in 25 balls, with four boundaries and six sixes) gave the innings much-needed speed. Russell and Rinku (19* in six balls, with a four and two sixes) took KKR to 206/4 in their 20 overs.
Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan, and Maheesh Theekshana each took wickets.
During the run-chase of 207 runs, RR was 71/5, but a 92-run stand between skipper Riyan Parag (95 in 45 balls, with six fours and eight sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (29 in 23 balls, with a four and six) gave them a massive chance. Despite fireworks from Shubham Dubey (25* in 14 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Jofra Archer (12 in eight balls, with a four), RR fell short by a run, finishing at 205/8 in their 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/32), Harshit Rana (2/41) and Moeen Ali (2/43) were the top wicket-takers for KKR.
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