Varun Chakravrathy is not playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their blockbuster 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Wednesday (May 14) at the Shaheed Veer Narayan International Stadium in Raipur. Ajinkya Rahane confirmed that debutant Saurabh Dubey has taken his place in the side as the franchise aims to continue its remarkable comeback after winning four games in a row.
The move means KKR is playing with one spinner less, as Dubey is a pacer who hails from Vidarbha and is playing an IPL match for the first time in his career. Sunil Narine and Ankul Roy are the spin-bowling options in the line-up.
Why Is Varun Chakravarthy Not Playing For KKR?
Rahane revealed that Varun is suffering from a niggle and hence missed out. For those unversed, the star spinner had suffered an injury to his left leg during KKR’s victory in their last match against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in Delhi and walked off the field after completing his spell in pain.
In the pre-match press conference, KKR’s assistant coach Shane Watson had revealed that Varun was being monitored but in a lot of pain.
“He’s just being monitored at the moment. Obviously he was sore the second last game, and the last game he was in a lot of pain, even though he still bowled incredibly well. We’ve got our fingers crossed that he will be available for tomorrow, but we’re just still not exactly sure,” said Watson.
Varun’s absence is a big blow to KKR, as he has been in fine form and key to the Knight Riders’ revival. The player started the season with no wickets in the first three games but now has 10 wickets in eight games. This is the third game of the season that the 34-year-old is not playing for the three-time champions. Previously, he missed two games against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) due to a finger injury.
KKR Playing XI: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
KKR Impact Sub Nominations: Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert
