ABU DHABI: Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Varun Chakaravarthy on Monday stated that playing for India has made him feel better.
Varun Chakaravarthy along with Andre Russell starred with the bowl as KKR bowled out Royal Challengers Banglore to 92 in 19 overs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. KKR batsmen then chased the target in just 10 overs by losing just 1 wicket.
Varun Chakravarthy who was also the Player of the Match, said in a post-match presentation: "I try to assess the pitch first. It was flat only. Would like to give credit to the bowlers who bowled in the powerplay with discipline. There wasn't much in the pitch. Wasn't much spin on offer so I had to keep it on the stumps. I thought it was out (the hattrick ball) but just saw the replay that there was an inside edge.
"Playing for India has made me feel better, I have a sense of acceptance from people around me because I started at 26," he added.
Eoin Morgan, the KKR captain said: "The timing of it (win) is excellent. The talent we have within our squad, sometimes that counts for nothing. You have to go out there and show how good you are. Was 50-50 about the toss. Bowlers have had an outstanding day today."
"Maxwell, AB, Virat - we got on top of them which is fantastic and really rare. Have a long way to go. Need a lot of things to go right for us. Today was the perfect start. Maybe makes us a dangerous side - we haven't turned up to the tournament so far," he added.
Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer played innings of 48 and 41 respectively for KKR. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal got the only wicket for the RCB in the game. With this victory, KKR has registered their third win of the season while RCB suffered their third defeat of IPL 2021.
