“He’s a guy for the future of the country” - Varun Chakravarthy praises young KKR leggie Suyash Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy is highly impressed with young leggie Suyash Sharma. Describing the 19-year-old as an amazing talent, he termed him as a “guy for the future” of Indian cricket.
Suyash stunned fans and critics with his amazing performance during KKR’s IPL 2023 clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Garden on April 6. Coming in as the 'Impact Player', he claimed 3/30, running through RCB's lower order.
The leg-spinner came up with another impressive showing when KKR and RCB clashed at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, April 26. He registered figures of 2/30 in four overs, dismissing Faf du Plessis and Shahbaz Ahmed.
In a post-match press conference following Kolkata’s 21-run win over Bangalore, Chakravarthy shared his views on Suyash and said:
“Suyash Sharma has come into the team and I could say that he’s a guy for the future of the country. He is an amazing talent. I wish he can understand the level of cricket we are playing and fast-track his way to the county’s side.”
On whether he receives inputs from senior spinner Sunil Narine, the 31-year-old replied:
“The most senior is Sunil Narine. He’s a legend. The way he guides us, talks to us is amazing.”
Chakravarthy was Player of the Match for his figures of 3/27 on Wednesday as KKR held RCB to 179/8 after setting them a target of 201. Speaking about his performance, he thanked a couple of coaches and commented:
“I worked on my accuracy rather than working on different variations. Another aspect which I was working on was revolutions on the ball. I was working with AC Prathiban. He’s a spin coach back in Chennai, so it definitely worked.
"More than that, tactics, whatever Abhishek Nayar [KKR assistant coach] tells, it always works for me. They both have played a very good role in my comeback.”
Chakravarthy dismissed Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, and Dinesh Karthik in Wednesday’s match to derail RCB’s chase.
“I did watch videos of previous matches I played against RCB” - Varun Chakravarthy
Chakravarthy claimed 4/15 when KKR took on RCB in the first half of the league stage. Asked about his preparations for the away game on Wednesday, the leg-spinner admitted that he watched clips of some of the previous games he played against Bangalore.
The Tamil Nadu cricketer said:
“We had our own plans. We made sure that we have separate meetings just to bowl on this ground [Chinnaswamy] because it’s a very challenging ground. It worked out today. You have to be confident in every ball you bowl and even if you slip in your confidence, the effort is not going translate in your bowling.
“I did watch videos of previous matches I played against RCB. I could see technical aspects of their batsmen. I was focusing on that.”
In an impressive IPL 2023 campaign so far, Chakravarthy has claimed 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 18.38.