IPL 2026: Shane Watson lauds Varun Chakravarthy for playing through pain

KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders’ assistant coach Shane Watson was all praise for Varun Chakravarthy’s commitment to the franchise as the spinner was playing through pain over the past few matches. Chakravarthy did play a big role in reviving KKR’s fortunes in the latter half of this season which kept them alive in the race for playoffs.


“Well, I’m not exactly sure of where he is on his rehab journey at the moment. All I do know is he’s obviously playing through a bit of pain at the moment, which just shows how brave he is, how much he wants to be here to be able to contribute for KKR, and he’s still bowling beautifully,” Watson said after KKR’s four-wicket win against Mumbai Indians in a rain-affected match that spilled over into Thursday.







Chakravarthy, who has reportedly suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot while fielding, has been in great discomfort and was seen limping at times on the field. Even a day before the MI game, the spinner practised behind the black sight screen alone away from the media and public glare.


Although a hue and cry was raised over pushing a BCCI centrally contracted player into action, board secretary Devajit Saikia cleared the issue stating “so far as IPL is concerned, franchises take care of the injuries and fitness of the players. The monitoring is there but when the IPL is going on, we cannot interfere too much.”


But strangely the same logic did not apply for Cameron Green in the early half of this IPL when KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane claimed only the Australian cricket board knew why the all-rounder did not bowl in the team’s thrashing against MI in their first match


Cricket Australia, however, was quick to respond to that stating that KKR had been informed well in advance that Green would not bowl in the first 10-12 days of the IPL due to a back injury.


“Cameron has a lower back injury which is being managed but requires him to abstain from bowling for a short period,” a CA spokesperson said. “KKR has been communicated with us and is fully aware of this information,” he added. Green not bowling harmed KKR’s team combination, but they had to accept it and in the process suffered a number of losses.


It now remains to be seen whether Chakravarthy, viewed as a T20 specialist, recovers in time for the UK tour beginning on June 26.
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