Former Australia pacer Brett Lee complimented Kolkata Knight Riders’ leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy for his composure while defending nine runs in the final over against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which he thinks was a situation where chasing teams are more fancied to get wins.
In a closely fought Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad’s chase of 172 was revived by a 70-run partnership off 47 balls between Heinrich Klaasen and skipper Aiden Markram. But Kolkata made a late comeback as Chakaravarthy conceded only 12 runs in the last three overs he bowled in the fag end to clinch a narrow win for Kolkata and take home the Player of the Match award.
“9 runs, 9 times out of 10, the chasing side would knock that off. There was one ball that could’ve gone for six but ended up being a wicket ball. That was a length where he could’ve gotten underneath that and sent it for six, but in hindsight, you’ve got to say they’ve done a terrific job. I think that was good defending by KKR but equally, poor batting and a horrible display by the Sunrisers,” Lee was quoted as saying by JioCinema.
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Ex-India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel lamented Hyderabad’s choices, including hunting for a DLS win, when they could’ve chased the target down easily.
“KKR definitely won this game with the bowling changes they made, the way they trusted Varun Chakaravarthy with the last over,” he said.