Varun Chakaravarthy vs Riyan Parag – Foundation for KKR’s Quinton de Kock-powered IPL 2025 win against Rajasthan Royals

When people look back at Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) victory against Rajasthan Royals in the sixth match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, they’ll focus on Quinton de Kock’s magnificent 97 not out. And rightfully so too, because it was a match-winning knock on a difficult pitch. But the foundation for a chase that could be controlled was laid by KKR’s bowlers. And the most important moment came in a sequence of two balls that Varun Chakravarthy bowled to Riyan Parag.

The set-up

Rajasthan Royals had gone in with an XI that was designed to give them maximum flexibility. Whereas most teams tend to go heavy on whichever discipline they are doing first because of the Impact Sub, Rajasthan Royals had five proper bowlers even though they were batting first. It had all the hallmarks of a Rahul Dravid move.

The Rajasthan Royals top-order was so powerful, that it could well do the job for 20 overs with only six batters. So why waste a spot on another batter? It would be better to load up on bowling while defending the target. And if things didn’t go to plan with the top order, the Impact Sub could always be used to bring in a batter. At least, that was the plan.

The battle

Varun Chakaravarthy was brought on in the eighth over. Rajasthan Royals hadn’t got a rollicking start, but at 59/1 on a pitch that wasn’t a belter, they were in a position to take control. Two of their brightest were at the crease: Yashasvi Jaiswal not his usual fluent self, and Riyan Parag in good rhythm. This was the key moment. With the pitch offering something, Varun Chakaravarthy was going to be KKR’s prime weapon, especially with Sunil Narine absent. On his third ball, he dragged one too short, and Riyan Parag smacked it way back into the stands.

It seemed like an inflexion point, and with a lesser bowler it might well have been. But Varun Chakaravarthy fizzed one fuller, quicker and spun it away from the right-hander. Looking for another six, Riyan Parag was done in by the speed and break, and skied it into the air for a catch.

“He was looking in great touch, Riyan, and the six that he hit off me… I just thought the ball that I bowled was a little short so I just wanted to stay a little fuller and see what’s happening with the pitch. It just got the edge,” Varun Chakaravarthy would say at the innings break. He may have lost the battle, but Varun had won the war. Emphatically.

The aftermath

With Yashasvi Jaiswal off-colour, Riyan Parag was Rajasthan Royals’ most important batter. His wicket brought Nitish Rana to the middle to join Yashavi Jaiswal – two left-handers. Perfect for Moeen Ali’s off-spin. Moeen Ali slipped into his role easily anyway, but Rajasthan Royals’ batting order made it a tad easier.

And when Rajasthan Royals sent in Wanindu Hasaranga at No. 5 to artificially prolong their batting order, the move only backfired as Varun Chakaravarthy snared him too. The importance of Riyan Parag’s wicket became apparent. If he had stayed, and in the form he was in, it was highly unlikely KKR could have bowled Moeen Ali uninterrupted through the middle overs like they did.

They would have had to juggle their bowling plans around. Instead, Ajinkya Rahane had the comfort of going to exactly the bowler he wanted to at any point in Rajasthan Royals’ innings. So even though Rajasthan Royals had Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer at the back-end, they couldn’t really take off since there were no ‘easy’ overs to break the shackles.

All of that could have turned out differently if Varun Chakaravarthy had not got Riyan Parag. That wicket’s domino effect stymied Rajasthan Royals’ innings, and eventually gave KKR a chaseable total.