You ought to assist him as a captain

Irfan Pathan believes Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Ajinkya Rahane must support mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy amid his form slump. The wily bowler finished with a costly spell of 4-0-48-0 in the team’s opening encounter against Mumbai Indians (MI).

Kolkata take on SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at home on Thursday, April 2. Irfan opined that Rahane should use Chakaravarthy right after the powerplay in the game.

The former cricketer suggested that the KKR skipper can also consider bowling an over of Chakaravarthy after a wicket falls. He emphasized that it would help the out-of-form bowler regain his confidence.

Irfan said in his YouTube video ahead of the KKR vs SRH clash:

“Don’t bowl Varun Chakaravarthy in the powerplay. You should support him as a captain. Bring him in after a wicket. Ideally, introduce him in the seventh over as it is a consolidation over. Varun Chakaravarthy can once again become a match-winner if he gets support from the captain at the start.”

Chakaravarthy was the joint-highest wicket-taker at the 2026 T20 World Cup, with 14 wickets from nine innings. He dominated opponents in the initial matches but seemed to have lost some form after the group stage.

Meanwhile, Irfan also reckoned that KKR can look to bench uncapped all-rounder Anukul Roy for a specialist batter.

“I think you can play a batter in place of Anukul Roy. You already have Sunil Narine as an all-rounder, and if Cameron Green also bowls, there will be a place for Tejasvi Dahiya or any other batter,” he added.

Roy didn’t get a chance to bat against MI. He bowled just 1.1 overs and conceded 15 runs without taking a wicket.

“Ishan Kishan’s captaincy was a bit disappointing” – Irfan Pathan’s blunt assessment of SRH skipper’s tactics

Ishan Kishan was named as SRH’s interim captain as regular skipper Pat Cummins is unavailable for the first few matches due to injury. Irfan Pathan remarked that Kishan made a few costly mistakes on his captaincy debut.

The Hyderabad-based side suffered a six-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their opening game. RCB chased the 202-run target in just 15.4 overs.

The cricketer-turned-commentator reckoned that Ishan giving two overs to all-rounder Nitish Reddy in the powerplay wasn’t the right move. He remarked in the same video:

“Ishan Kishan’s captaincy was a bit disappointing in the first match. He gave Nitish Reddy two overs in the powerplay and they were out of the game there itself. I think there needs to be some improvement.”

Nitish failed to pick up a wicket and ended up conceding 19 runs from his two overs in the encounter.