Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 21 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Assistant Coach Shane Watson revealed the reason behind Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s absence during KKR’s run-chase against MI at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.
KKR chased down a challenging 148-run target against MI in 18.5 overs to win the match by four wickets, but their leading run-scorer of the season, Raghuvanshi, didn’t come out to bat due to neck pain.
Raghuvanshi collided with his teammate Varun Chakaravarthy during the 11th over of the first innings when the wicketkeeper ran towards Chakaravarthy to grab a high catch of Tilak Varma.
It was the bowler’s catch, but Raghuvanshi reached there, calling and claiming the catch. He couldn’t reach for the ball on time, and his head collided with Varun, which resulted in the bowler dropping the catch.
Talking about Raghuvanshi’s injury during the post-match press conference, Watson said, “Ankrish, unfortunately, ran a long way to be able to try and get that catch. And unfortunately, the collision that he had with Varun Chakravarthy meant that he ended up having some neck pain, a bit of dizziness and a bit of a headache within a couple of overs of that as well. So, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish off the game. And I know how desperate he was as well. He’s someone who is as tough a competitor as I’ve ever met. So we certainly missed him from a batting perspective.”
Reflecting on Varun Chakravarthy’s rehab, Watson said, “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 to KKR. And he’s still bowling beautifully. It’s been brilliant to be able to see just like the turnaround from the first few games of the season to then the impact he’s been able to consistently have every single game. And we are so lucky to be able to have some of Varun’s skills.”
Chakaravarthy remained wicketless in the match after conceding just 28 runs in his four overs. He has taken 10 wickets for his side this season.
Coming to the match, KKR opted to bowl first after winning the toss. It was a scorching cameo of 32* in 18 balls, with three fours and two sixes from Corbin Bosch, which took MI to 147/8 in 20 overs, with Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi and Cameron Green picking up two wickets each.
In the chase, Manish and Rovman Powell (40 in 30 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) top-scored as KKR chased the target in 18.5 overs with four wickets left.
With this win, their sixth in the previous seven games, KKR keep their playoff dream alive and kicking. With six wins and losses each and a no result, KKR are in sixth place in the points table. MI is in ninth place with four wins and nine losses. (ANI)