Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 12 : Former Australia pacer Brett Lee showered praise on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Varun Chakaravarthy and said he bowled "beautifully" against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Eden Gardens.
Chakaravarthy was named the Player of the Match after he picked up two wickets and gave away just 17 runs in his four-over spell at an economy rate of 4.20.
Speaking to Jio Cinema, Lee said Chakaravarthy made efforts to pick the hard length against the Mumbai-based franchise on Saturday. The former cricketer added that the KKR bowler did not allow any chance for the batters to get underneath the ball.
"He bowled beautifully. He made efforts to pick the hard length, he banged the ball short in the wicket which did not allow the batsmen to get underneath the ball and made the cross-bat shots difficult," Lee said.
Recapping, the game on Saturday was restricted to a 16-over-per-side after rain played a spoilsport. However, MI decided to field after winning the toss.
Following the early loss of openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, valuable knocks came from Venkatesh Iyer (42), Nitish Rana (33), Andre Russell (24) and Rinku Singh (20), which helped KKR reach 157/7 in the 20 overs.
Piyush Chawla (2/28) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/39) were the top bowlers for MI.
In the run-chase, Ishan Kishan (40) and Rohit Sharma (19) started with a fine 65-run opening stand. However, KKR soon restricted the run of flow and took wickets. Tilak Varma (32) and Naman Dhir (17) put up a fight, but MI fell short by 18 runs, ending at 139/8 in their 16 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/17) was the top bowler for KKR. Andre Russell and Harshit Rana (2/34) also did fine with the ball.
KKR is at the top of the points table, with nine wins and three losses, with 18 points. MI is at the bottom with four wins and nine losses, giving them eight points.
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