Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy revealed that emotions were high in the dressing room after securing their first win of IPL 2026 against Rajasthan Royals in a thrilling chase at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, April 19. Speaking to the press after his winning performance, Varun compared the emotional moment to their winning the Indian Premier League title in 2024. KKR vs RR: Highlights | Scorecard
Kolkata Knight Riders faced immense pressure when they hosted a formidable Rajasthan Royals batting line-up led by youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. KKR were winless in their first six matches and managed just one point in the rain-affected game. However, they kept calm on Sunday chasing a target of 156 on a slow and slow Kolkata pitch.
At one point, KKR were struggling at 85 for 6 in the 15th over. Still, Rinku Singh, who was struggling with form, and Anukul Roy put up an unbeaten 76-run partnership to secure victory. Rinku’s half-century was key while Varun, who overcame a slow start to the season, claimed three wickets for just 14 runs in his four overs. His performance included dismissing the formidable Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who scored 46 off 28 balls.
Stressing the importance of the win to boost team morale, Varun credited the Abhishek Nayar-led coaches for keeping the faith despite outside criticism.
“Very, very significant. I can tell you that I saw many tears in the dressing room today, which we did not see even in the year we won the IPL in 2024,” Varun said during a press conference in Kolkata.
He added: “The main credit goes to the coaching staff because they didn’t let outside noise affect us. Too many people made judgments that were completely unfounded. You need a strong core at times like this and we have that.”
I DID NOT MAKE MISTAKES: VARUN
Rushing onto the field, Varun was among the first to congratulate Rinku Singh after he hit the winning runs. Questions have been raised about the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane and Rinku Singh, especially during their lean patches with the bat. Varun faced the pressure himself, going wicketless in his first three games before being benched.
Although Rahane did not contribute with the bat, the relief was palpable after KKR ended their winless streak. The emotions of the players in the dugout were palpable as the chase was successfully completed.
Varun, who revealed that he has been dealing with an injury to his non-bowling hand, dismissed claims that technical issues were behind his slump and instead attributed it to batsman-friendly pitches in the IPL 2026 season.
“Just because I took three wickets today, I don’t want to make a sweeping statement. That’s the nature of the game. In the next match, if there’s nothing in the wicket, it’s going to happen to every spinner. As you saw, initially every spinner struggled. That’s how it is,” he explained.
“Once the pitches start to slow down, that’s when we come into play and become more effective. So it’s the nature of the game and we can’t change it. I don’t think too much about it,” he added, further addressing criticism of his form.
“I didn’t make any mistakes – it was because of the pitches. I’m very hard on myself when I fail, I analyze what went wrong. But earlier the pitch had nothing for spinners. If you see other spinners, it was the same for everyone. It’s good that there is something on the pitch now.”
KKR now have a week’s break before taking on Lucknow Super Giants away from home on Sunday, April 26.
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Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
20 Apr 2026 09:36 IST
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