How Varun Chakravarthy spun his chakra to help KKR snatch win from jaws of defeat

Varun Chakravarthy celebrates KKR’s victory with wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz as SRH’s Mayank Markande looks on at Hyderabad on Thursday. Pic/PTI

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) could be one of the worst teams while chasing a target, big or small. And it was no different story on Thursday. Needing 172 and requiring just nine runs off the last over, SRH choked and suffered a five-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here. This was SRH's sixth loss, and their hopes of a playoff spot seem to have taken yet another serious tumble.

For eighth-placed KKR, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy (4-0-20-1) held his nerve to emerge as the hero, conceding just two runs besides one leg bye in that final over, even dismissing the aggressive Abdul Samad, as the Kolkata side earned their fourth win in 10 matches. SRH finished on 166-8.

Under pressure

Chakravarthy later revealed that he was under immense pressure while bowling that final over. "We wanted to keep it simple. It is a very important win for us because from now on it's do or die for us. We have to keep winning all our matches. My heartbeat was definitely touching 200 [beats per minute], but I just wanted to challenge them to [hit towards] the longer end [of the ground], so that was the only thing in my mind," Chakravarthy, 31, said.

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The Tamil Nadu spinner said that it was tough to grip the ball due to the rain earlier in the evening. "My first over went for 12 and [Aiden] Markram [41 off 40 balls] played some amazing shots. That's how the game goes. Last year, I was bowling at around 85 kmph. So I went back and tried out many things. I realised that once my revolutions go down, my speed goes down," he added.

Brian Lara

We need partnerships: Lara

Meanwhile, SRH coach Brian Lara again blamed the batters saying that they have been letting the team down. "We kept losing wickets in the Powerplays. Obviously, [Heinrich] Klaasen [20-ball 36] does all the hard work coming in at No. 6. Although we have a couple of quality players before him, it has always been a task for him. The batters are aware of winning such a game, but we are just unable to do it. I believe we have to have partnerships and understand the importance of match awareness," said Lara, insisting that SRH are not weak against spin. "We hit 200 against the same spinners. I think overall we are not weak against spinners and lost the majority of our wickets to fast bowlers. We recovered with a couple of good overs, but then lost a couple of wickets at crucial stages of the match. I would say they did not beat us, but we lost the game," added Lara, admitting that his team were tentative chasing 160-odd. "We have to be positive and everyone is eager to win. We have to try to inject some positivity and intent in our batting," he concluded.