India front-line spinner Varun Chakravarthy dismissed criticism from the outside world on Sunday and blamed his recent troubles on poor conditions rather than any “mistakes” in his bowling.
Chakravarthy returned to form with figures of 3/14 in an afternoon match on a slow Eden Gardens pitch, helping the Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in their first IPL 2026 victory after six games.
However, Chakravarthy seemed belligerent when questioned about handling the challenging phase that dates back to the T20 World Cup Super Eights encounter against South Africa on February 22.
When asked about his difficulties following his player-of-the-match performance against RR, he said, “Bowlers will concede runs. Which game are you talking about?”
The South African combo of David Miller and Dewald Brevis destroyed him during the T20 World Cup Super Eights stage, which marked the beginning of his decline in form. This trend continued into the IPL.
Even though he was with Jasprit Bumrah as the team’s top wicket-taker and they finished with 14 wickets overall in their T20 World Cup victory, Chakravarthy conceded runs at a rate of more than 11 per over in the closing stages and only took five wickets in the previous five Super Eights games.
In their IPL 2026 opening match against the Mumbai Indians, he gave up 48 runs from four overs and had to wait four games to take his maiden wicket. However, Chakravarthy insisted that his bowling was perfect.
“Just because I’ve taken three wickets today, I don’t want to make a sweeping statement. That’s the nature of the game. In the next match, if the wicket has nothing in it, that’s going to happen to every spinner. As you saw, initially every spinner was struggling. That’s how it is. Once the pitches start slowing down, that’s when we come into the game and become more effective. So it’s the nature of the game and we can’t change it. I don’t think much about it,” PTI quoted Chakravarthy as saying.
When responding to criticism of his form, the 34-year-old was even more emphatic.
“I wasn’t making any mistakes — it was because of the pitches. I’m very tough on myself; if I don’t do well, I analyse what went wrong. But the pitches earlier had nothing for spinners. If you see other spinners, it was the same for everyone. It’s good that there is something in the pitch now.”
Chakravarthy emphasized that spinners should only be used when favorable circumstances exist and advised against making quick decisions.
“Once there is something in the pitch, I go back to my strength — attacking the stumps. But if there is nothing in the pitch, that’s when bowlers start getting confused, even look clueless, and that happens to everyone. It has happened to the best of the best. So no one should be judged on just one good or bad performance.”
The spinner denied making any significant adjustments, despite suggestions that he was altering his pace and lengths excessively when under pressure.
“My speed has been the same. I haven’t changed anything in speed or length. I’ve only tweaked my lines a bit… more cramping lines, not just the fourth stump channel but also wider on off or leg. I’m not sticking only to the stumps,” he said.
After a lackluster start under captain Ajinkya Rahane, the victory was a tremendous relief for KKR. Chakravarthy acknowledged that there were poignant moments in the dressing room and praised head coach Abhishek Nayar for protecting the players from what he called “outside noise”.
“Very, very significant. I can tell you I saw many tears in the dressing room today, which we didn’t even see in the year we won the IPL in 2024. The main credit goes to the coaching staff because they didn’t let the outside noise affect us. There were too many people making judgments which were totally baseless. At such times, you need a strong core, and we have that,” he said.
He also mentioned early-season injuries as a contributing factor.
“We started this tournament with many injuries and it actually crippled us even before it began. So I would like to give credit to the coaches, especially Abhishek Nayar. If you’re taking up a team in such conditions, you need a lot of courage. He has taken up the team in a very tough situation. Slowly, step by step, one win here, one win there, we will be back on track.”
With three home games remaining, KKR will now have a nearly month-long hiatus at Eden Gardens due to the state’s impending Assembly elections. They will play the Gujarat Titans in Kolkata on May 16.
Chakravarthy responded neutrally when asked if this was the type of pitch they would prefer moving forward.
“There has been a lot of talk about the wickets. I don’t know who decides them, but we are ready for whatever comes. We’re open to play on any surface.”
