GT vs KKR: Varun Chakravarthy insults Rohit Sharma after dismissing him

Kolkata Knight Riders leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy has revealed how he was able to set up and take the wicket of Mumbai Indians opener Rohit Sharma. 

Varun Chakravarthy played a key role behind KKR's one-sided victory over the Mumbai Indians last night at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium. With that win, the Knight Riders became the first team in IPL 2024 to secure qualification for the playoffs as they reached the 18-point mark off 12 games with another 2 matches to go. 

What did Varun Chakravarthy say about Rohit Sharma's wicket?

In the rain-marred contest between KKR and MI which was reduced to 16 overs, Varun Chakravarthy was the one who well and truly led from the front. He proved to be very economical for the Knight Riders as his leg spin is once again causing a lot of mystery. He took the very important wicket of MI opener Rohit Sharma in what was his favorite ground to score runs. 

Eden Gardens is the venue where Rohit Sharma scored one of his 3 double centuries in One-day cricket and it's also where his only IPL century came in 2012. With Rohit not having form by his side, his appearance in Eden was considered as the one that can help him get over his lean patch.

However, Varun Chakravarthy, who has never claimed the wicket of Rohit Sharma in his IPL career, had other plans. While speaking in the post-match presentation after picking up his man of the match award, Chakravarthy admitted that he was determined to get rid of the Indian captain. 

He knew he had never claimed Rohit Sharma's wicket and to do so, he needed to plan it meticulously. Varun Chakravarthy stated that there was a little bit of help for spinners at the Eden Gardens surface so he used that to his advantage. 

The 32-year-old further revealed that he was trying to force a mistake from Rohit Sharma by constantly bowling him in the wicket-to-wicket line. Chakravarthy then said that he wanted Rohit to play across the line so that he could either hit the pads or take a leading edge off the latter's bat. 

In the end, that's what happened as well.

During the 5th ball of the 8th over, Varun Chakravarthy bowled a quicker one towards his pads. Rohit Sharma tried to sweep the ball away but he only ended up tossing it towards short fine leg and Sunil Narine completed an easy catch. Rohit walked to the dressing room for a disappointing score of 19 off 23.   

"Yeah, because I had never taken Rohit bhai's (Sharma) wicket. So celebration was coming. Obviously, there was help from the wicket, and I was able to use it to my advantage. The plan was to make him hit across the line. I had meticulously planned, and it came off." - Chakravarthy said during the post-match presentation. 

Chakravarthy claims figures of 2/17 

After removing Rohit Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy claimed the wicket of MI skipper Hardik Pandya for just 2 runs. Those were the only 2 wickets he claimed but he became man of the match specifically for his efficient economy rate of 4.25 which saw him concede just 17 runs.