Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Shardul Thakur opened up about Nitish Rana’s decision to bowl Varun Chakravarthy in the final over against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. The Indian all-rounder was slated to bowl the final before the KKR skipper had a chat with Thakur to change his idea to bowl the KKR spinner to defend nine runs in the 20th over.
SRH required just nine runs in the final over with three wickets in hand and the hard-hitting Abdul Samad was batting as the KKR skipper took a gamble to bowl the Tamil Nadu spinner, who has been his go-to bowler in this edition of Indian Premier League, which paid off for him as their secured their fourth victory in the league stage.
Varun Chakravarthy bowled brilliantly well to concede only three runs in the final over to keep Kolkata Knight Riders in the hunt for playoffs. Speaking to the media about Nitish Rana’s decision to bowl Varun over him, Shardul Thakur said that Rana went with his instinct to bowl Varun in the 20th over.
“The captain had a feeling that he should bowl Varun Chakaravarthy. So as a player, I just have to give confidence to our captain to go with his instincts. There’s no point going in there with any kind of doubt. If he feels he needs to bowl Varun, I said go with your intuition,” Shardul Thakur said.
Shardul Thakur bowled brilliantly well to pick up two wickets for his side including the important wicket of dangerous Heinrich Klassen to break a 70-run partnership alongside Aiden Markram. Speaking on his bowling, Thakur said that it is important to bowl cutters in the right length and felt that the pitch had been on the slower side, as the ball was stopping before coming into the bat.
“On this kind of pitch, I thought about a cutter but the most important thing was to execute the length and hope that he plays a cross-batted shot and miscues one. When I went out to bat, I played just five or six balls but quickly saw some are stopping and some are coming on so thought I might as well use that,” he added.
It’s Been Difficult, Not Easy With Injuries – Shardul Thakur
Shardul Thakur believes that it was a much-needed win for the two-time champions, as they lost a few games despite being in a good position to win the games and also revealed that the team has dealt with numerous injury concerns and feels that it is nice to have won going into the business end of the tournament.
“If you see previous games, something needs to happen and we would lose a game from winning point. It’s been difficult, not easy with injuries, so this win was much needed,” Shardul Thakur added.
Kolkata Knight Riders have four wins in the 10 league game so far and the next four games will be must-win games for the four-time champions to see themselves in a playoff chance they will return to their home ground Eden Gardens to take Punjab Kings in a must-win encounter on Monday.