KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said that the team is confident of a return to form for Varun Chakravarthy during the upcoming IPL 2026 season. Varun endured a torrid time during the second half of the T20 World Cup 2026, despite ending the tournament as the joint-highest wicket-taker alongside Jasprit Bumrah.
The spinner leaked runs from the start of the Super 8 stage, and went for 64 runs in the semi-final against England. He finished with 14 wickets, but his economy-rate of 9.25 was worrying. He went on to lose his spot at the top of the ICC T20I bowlers rankings in the process. However, Rahane said that Varun wasn’t doing anything wrong and said that he was trying to pick wickets at crucial points in the game.
The KKR skipper also feels that the break after the T20 World Cup came at the right time for Varun, allowing him to recalibrate ahead of the new season.
“When you have a long career in T20 cricket, firstly, you tend to have such things. It’s almost like a batter sometimes not getting runs. And that’s how cricket is.
“I think with Varun, that’s one of the things, he’s played so much T20 cricket over the past year… So a lot of teams obviously will try things (against him). Sometimes the conditions are not conducive to their style of bowling. You also need to understand he’s always bowling the tough overs for the team. He’s bowling in the Powerplay,” Rahane said during the team’s first news conference this season at Eden Gardens.
“He’s bowling in phases of the game where two batters are set. He’s coming in and trying to pick wickets. So I wouldn’t say there’s anything necessarily wrong with him. He’s had a good 10-day break after the World Cup. I think that break is sometimes what a cricketer requires. And the beauty of team sport is that sometimes if Varun doesn’t turn up, someone else does.”
