Varun Chakravarthy
Registering best bowling figures of the on-going IPL 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders' Varun Chakravarthy spread his magic against Delhi Capitals and added a five-wicket haul under his belt on Saturday.
The KKR 'mystery spinner' baffled the batsmen with his variations and plucked five wickets to derail DC's batting unit. He became the 19th bowler in the IPL history to take a five-wicket haul and the first one to do it in the on-going edition.
Chakravarthy brilliant spell guided the Eoin Morgan-led side to a convincing 59-run victory. While chasing a challenging total of 194, Delhi succumbed to the bowling brilliance of Chakravarthy, managing to gather just 135 runs on the board. With this crucial victory, KKR have now bolstered their chances to qualify for the playoffs.
In the space of just 17 deliveries, Chakravarthy took the wickets of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel.
The 29-year-old spinner finished his spell after giving away just 20 runs, registering second-best bowling figures for KKR in the IPL history (5/20). Sunil Narine stands first in the list with figures of 5/19 against Kings XI Punjab at Kolkata in 2012.
After being put to bat first, KKR's run-flow was bolstered by impressive knocks by Nitish Rana and Sunil Rana.
While Rana slammed 81 off 53 deliveries, Narine scored a quick-fire 32-ball 64. After KKR's early setbacks, both the left-handers hit a flurry of boundaries and steered KKR to a dominant total of 194 runs.
