Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squared off in the 47th match of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday, May 4, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. SRH failed to chase down the target set by KKR, as the visitors won by five runs, in what turned out to be a last-over thriller. Courtesy of Varun Chakravarthy's bowling, Kolkata successfully defended the target in the final over.
SRH needed nine runs off the final over and Chakravarty was asked by skipper Nitish Rana to defend the target. He justified the captain's decision as he just conceded only four runs. Earlier, the 31-year-old picked up a wicket, removing Abdul Samad for 21 runs. Consequently, for his frugal bowling spell of 1/20, Varun was adjudged the Player of the Match.
During the post-match presentation, Chakravarty reflected on his match-winning performance for KKR after receiving the POTM. He said that he was seemingly nervous as his heart was pounding heavily while bowling the final over.
"My heartbeat was touching 200 in the last over, but I wanted them to make hit to the longer part of the ground. The ball was slipping a lot and my best bet was longer side and that was my only hope," the 31-year-old stated.
Furthermore, the willy spinner pointed out his bowling flaws in the previous edition of the IPL and started working on improving his ball revolutions to get the desired result he has been enjoying in the ongoing IPL 2023 edition.
"My first over I went for 12 runs, Markram hit me for 2 fours and that's how the game goes, Last year I was bowling around 85kmph, I was trying out many things and I realized that I needed to work on my revolutions and I did work on it," Chakravarty concluded.
KKR beat SRH by five runs in Hyderabad
Now, speaking of the match, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Nitish Rana, won the toss and opted to bat first. After getting jolted with early wickets. KKR recovered back with brilliant knocks from Nitish Rana (42) and Rinku Singh (46) and posted a competitive total of 171 runs on the board. For SRH, Marco Jansen and T Natarajan picked two wickets while Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, and Aiden Markram took a wicket each.
During the run chase, Nitish Rana and Co. restricted SRH to 166 and clinched a sensational last-over victory over the hosts. For KKR, Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur grabbed two wickets while Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Andre Russel, and Varun Chakravarty picked one each.
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