Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth criticised Varun Chakravarthy after Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a six-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. Defending 221 runs, KKR bowlers could not execute their plans.

Chakravarthy went wicketless and also conceded 48 runs in his quota of four overs. The 34-year-old could not deliver as he gave away his runs at an economy rate of 12. The mystery spinner was taken to the cleaners by Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton. Chakravarthy was also expensive in the recently concluded T20 World Cup.

Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Unless Varun Chakaravarthy learns to spin the ball and bowl leg-spin, he will struggle. Just bowling googlies all the time will not sustain. He has to get some variations and get the leg-spin going. There is no mystery with him anymore. Your mystery has become history.”

Meanwhile, Srikkanth said Rohit Sharma was able to put the game to bed in Chakravarthy’s opening over. Rohit smashed the mystery spinner for two fours and a six, taking him for 15 runs in the over. Srikkanth said Chakravarthy should not have bowled in the Powerplay overs.

He added, “Bowl leg-spin and take the ball away from the batters. That’s when batters will fear you. Firstly, he should not be given the ball in the powerplay. Rohit Sharma finished the match in his over itself in the powerplay. Varun Chakaravarthy’s confidence got dented there itself, and after that, he started bowling fast.”

Not only Varun Chakravarthy, but all the KKR bowlers could not bring their A-game to the field. All the KKR bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 10. 

KKR will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday.