Image Credit: Hindustan times

The strength of Kolkata Knight Riders, which has won the IPL title twice, has been its spinners for a long time. Sunil Narine of the West Indies was the main spinner of this team for a long time, but ever since Varun Chakraborty has come into this team, he has supported Narine very well and has emerged as the main weapon of Kolkata. On Monday in IPL-2023, once again he showed the magic of his spin against Punjab Kings.

Varun made it difficult for the Punjab batsmen to stay on the wicket and did not even allow runs to be scored. Varun started his IPL career with Punjab only. In 2019, he made his IPL debut for Kings XI Punjab and played his first match against Kolkata. After this Punjab did not retain him.

Image Credit: DNA india

Stormy batsmen were dismissed

Punjab has such batsmen who score fast runs. Varun made two of these his victims. Captain Nitish Rana put him on the bowling in the powerplay and Varun fulfilled the expectations of his captain. He lbw Liam Livingston on the third ball of the sixth over. The whole world knows how dangerous Livingston can prove to be. But Varun made him walk. Livingston scored 15 runs in nine balls with the help of three fours.

Jitesh Sharma is another batsman from Punjab who scores runs at a blistering pace. Jitesh is considered the best finisher. But Varun did not let him come under his control. On the third ball of the 13th over, Varun got Jitesh caught by wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaj. Jitesh scored 21 runs off 18 balls. Apart from these two, Varun also sent Rishi Dhawan, who was scoring fast, to the pavilion. Rishi scored 19 runs in 11 balls. Varun took three wickets for 26 runs in four overs in this match.

Image Credit: ESPN Cricinfo

Punjab scored 179 runs

Punjab did not get a good start in this match, but still, this team managed to score 179 runs after losing seven wickets after playing 20 overs. Shah Rukh Khan and Harpreet Brar scored fast runs in the last over for Punjab. Shahrukh scored an unbeaten 21 off eight balls with the help of three sixes and a four. Harpreet scored an unbeaten 17 off nine balls with the help of two fours and a six.