Eoin Morgan, KKR skipper saved his best spinner on the day, Varun Chakravarthy, for later but the move didn’t work out as well as he would have liked.
After Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered a 38-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL) match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, there was one thing everyone wanted to know which is the reason why Eoin Morgan didn’t give Varun Chakravarthy a second over upfront after the spinner picked up two wickets in one over.
Eoin Morgan: Needed To Have Varun Chakravarthy An Option To Bowl Some Overs To AB de Villiers
Speaking to the broadcasters after the match, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan revealed why he didn’t do the one thing everyone would have expected him to do.
When asked whether he should have given Chakravarthy another over, Morgan said: “Probably not to be honest. Glenn Maxwell is a fine player, but he’s not the wrongly destructive player like we saw today. Having one or two overs up our sleeve to bowl to AB de Villiers, you obviously need to have that [option]. Obviously, we have our strength and depth and every side in this competition as well. So, you need to have that plan past just one player.”
Brendon McCullum, KKR head coach tried to justify skipper Eoin Morgan’s decision of not giving that fourth over of RCB innings to Varun Chakravarthy (his 2nd over) but added that in retrospect the leg-spinner should have bowled that over. Captain Eoin Morgan not persisting with Varun Chakravarthy even when the leg-spinner struck twice in his very first over to rock Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) early surprised many.
Eoin Morgan Tried To Save Varun Chakravarthy For Late Overs But The Move Didn’t Work Out As Planned
Eoin Morgan tried to save his best spinner on the day for later but the move didn’t work out. Varun Chakravarthy was brought back on in the eighth over, by the time Glenn Maxwell had settled in and was batting on 30 off 19 balls. He ended up conceding 14 runs from that over.
Eoin Morgan reintroduced his spinner in the 13th over when AB de Villiers was only two balls old at the crease. Even though he gave away five runs, he failed to threaten Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers.
Vipin Pawar / Sportzpics for BCCI
Varun Chakravarthy bowled his final over in the 15th over of RCB’s innings giving away two fours to AB de Villiers and one six to Glenn Maxwell. In total, he conceded 17 runs and finished with figures of 2/39 in four overs. RCB, with this win, continues to sit pretty at the top of the points table and for the first time in their history, they have won the first three games of a season.
Other KKR spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Shakib Al Hasan leaked runs. While Harbhajan Singh conceded 38 runs in 4 overs, Shakib Al Hasan was expensive as he conceded 24 runs in 2 overs. But Andre Russell who picked 5 wickets in the previous match conceded as much as 38 runs in 2 overs which hurt KKR the most. The last 3 overs saw 56 runs as KKR bowlers bore the assault of AB de Villiers.