Following the victory against five-time champion Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy revealed the game plan that the side made for dismissing the right-hand opener Rohit Sharma. A fantastic comeback effort by KKR spinners helped derail MI run-chase of 158 runs, restricting them to 139/8 in 16 overs in the IPL 2024 clash at Eden Gardens on Saturday and made the two-time champions the first team to reach the playoffs.

Earlier, rain played a spoilsport and the match officials decided to make it a 16-over contest.

The spinner asserted that there was help from the wicket and he was able to use it for his advantage.

“The plan was to make him (Rohit) hit across the line, obviously there was help from the wicket and I was able to use it to my advantage. Tactically we (talking about Narine) are similar, but technically we are slightly different. The wickets were too flat initially, my bowling has been the same from the first match and it is just that the results are showing up now,” Chakravarthy said in the post-match presentation.

Coming to the match, it was restricted to a 16-over-per-side affair due to rain. MI opted to field first after winning the toss.

Following early loss of openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, valuable knocks came from Venkatesh Iyer (42 in 21 balls, with six fours and two sixes), Nitish Rana (33 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Andre Russell (24 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Rinku Singh (20 in 12 balls, with two sixes), which helped KKR reach 157/7 in the 20 overs.

Piyush Chawla (2/28) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/39) were the top bowlers for MI.

In the run-chase, Ishan Kishan (40 in 22 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Rohit Sharma (19 in 24 balls, with a four and six) started with a fine 65-run opening stand. However, KKR soon restricted the run of flow and took wickets. Tilak Varma (32 in 17 balls, with five fours and a six) and Naman Dhir (17 in six balls, with a four and two sixes) put up a fight, but MI fell short by 18 runs, ending at 139/8 in their 20 overs.

Varun Chakravarthy (2/17) was the top bowler for KKR. Andre Russell and Harshit Rana (2/34) also did fine with the ball.

KKR is at the top of the points table, with nine wins and three losses, with 18 points. MI is at the bottom with four wins and nine losses, giving them eight points.

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