Varun Chakravarthy has put up a brave front by “playing through a bit of pain,” as Kolkata Knight Riders kept their slim hopes of making it to the playoffs, when they beat Mumbai Indians on Wednesday. During the match there was an unfortunate incident where Varun had a collision with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, which prevented the latter from batting.
As reported in the media, Varun has been playing through a hairline fracture in his left foot for most of the season as KKR pushed to stay alive in the playoff race. He went wicketless against Mumbai but bowled a miserly spell, conceding just 28 runs in his four overs.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure of where he is on his rehab journey at the moment. All I do know is he’s obviously playing through a bit of pain at the moment, which just shows how brave he is, how much he wants to be here to be able to contribute for KKR, and he’s still bowling beautifully,” Shane Watson, KKR’s assistant coach, said in the press conference after the game.
“It’s been brilliant to be able to see (Varun’s) turnaround from the first few games of the season, to then the impact he’s been able to consistently have every single game. And we are so lucky to be able to have someone of Varun’s skill and also his desperation to be able to be here, and to play for KKR, because with the pain that he’s managing, he could have easily just said, ‘look, I don’t want to be a part of this, I’m just going to go and rest it’.
“So we’re very fortunate that he’s all in, and he’s done a brilliant job again tonight.”
Varun has continued to play despite the injury with the BCCI having taken not of it, but with the IPL on they don’t have much of a say.
“So far as IPL is concerned, franchises take care of the injuries and fitness of the players. Of course physios from CoE (BCCI’s Centre of Excellence) are also monitoring them, workload as well as plan on how to keep them fit,” Devajit Saikia, the BCCI secretary, told PTI on Tuesday. “The monitoring is there but when IPL is going on, we cannot interfere too much. Had it been the Indian team situation, our control would have been more,” he added.
There was also a worrying moment during the match when Varun collided with wicketkeeper Raghuvanshi while attempting a catch. The incident happened in the 11th over of Mumbai Indians’ innings when Tilak Varma top-edged a shot off Varun’s bowling. Varun looked set to complete the catch, but Raghuvanshi rushed in as well and the two players collided, causing Varun to drop the ball on impact. Raghuvanshi later walked off the field in the 14th over and did not return to bat.
“Angkrish, unfortunately… he ran a long way to be able to try and get that catch. And unfortunately the collision that he had with Varun Chakravarthy meant that he ended up having some neck pain, a bit of dizziness and a headache within a couple overs of that as well,” Watson said.
“So, yeah, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish off the game and I know how desperate he was as well. He’s someone who, he’s as tough as a competitor as I’ve ever met. So, we certainly missed him from a batting perspective.”
KKR are scheduled to play their last league match on Sunday against Delhi Capitals.
