Varun Chakravarthy returned to form with an impressive spell as the Kolkata Knight Riders attack restricted Rajasthan Royals to 155/9 in the Indian Premier League match 28 at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. In the process, he became the fastest Indian spinner to reach 200 T20 wickets.
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The landmark came with the crucial wicket of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was dismissed in Chakravarthy’s first after the introduction. He reached 200 wickets in 155 innings, surpassing Kuldeep Yadav (160) to set a new record for an Indian spinner, and is now the second fastest overall among Indians behind Arshdeep Singh.
Fastest Indians to 200 T20 wickets (by innings):
Arshdeep Singh – 151
Varun Chakraborty – 155
Kuldeep Yadav – 160
Jaydev Unadkat – 162
Mohammed Shami – 165
Chakravarthy reached the milestone through the wicket of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as he struck in his first over after being introduced. The feat also made him the second fastest Indian overall behind Arshdeep Singh.
Rajasthan got off to a brisk start after being put into bat. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi added 63 runs in the power play and scored over 10 overs against the Kolkata teams. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane initially held back the spin despite the surface offering grip.
The change in approach brought immediate results. Chakravarthy dismissed Sooryavanshi with a flighty delivery that produced a mistimed pull. Ramandeep Singh completed the catch at deep mid-wicket. The wicket halted Rajasthan’s momentum and triggered a collapse.
Rajasthan slumped from 63/0 to 118/4 in the 15th over. Sooryavanshi made 46 off 28 balls while Jaiswal scored 39 off 29. Riyan Parag (12) and Dhruv Jurel (5) fell in quick succession as the scoring rate dipped.
Chakravarthy played the ball in one stretch after being introduced in the ninth over and finished with 3/14. He conceded just five runs in his first over and took two wickets in his opening spell.
Sunil Narine backed him up from the other end and removed Jaiswal and Donovan Ferreira (7). Narine finished with 2/26 as Rajasthan were reduced to 124/5 in the 16th over.
Rajasthan never recovered after losing wickets in the middle overs and finished with a lower score.
Kartik Tyagi took 3/22 in the death overs, including the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja (9) and Shimron Hetmyer (15), but the damage was already done.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
19th April 2026 18:00 IST
