"He bowled the most difficult overs" - Aakash Chopra picks Varun Chakaravarthy as his MVP for KKR's IPL 2023 win vs SRH

Aakash Chopra has picked Varun Chakaravarthy as his most valuable player (MVP) in the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) IPL 2023 win against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Nitish Rana and Co. set a 172-run target for SRH after opting to bat first in Hyderabad on Thursday, May 4. Chakaravarthy then conceded just eight runs in the 18th and 20th overs of SRH's chase to help the visitors register a five-run win and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked Chakaravarthy (1/20 in four overs) as the star performer of the day, reasoning:

"No one scored runs with the bat. To be fair, not a single person scored a fifty. That's an interesting bit because nearly 350 runs were scored. So my most valuable player is Varun Chakaravarthy. I have gone slightly offbeat because he picked up only one wicket."

The former KKR player added:

"Then why have I made him the most valuable player? It's because he bowled the most difficult overs - he bowled the 18th and 20th overs and saved runs there. So if Varun Chakaravarthy sets his trap and catches the opposition team, that's good enough."

Chopra pointed out that a player doesn't need to pick up a five-wicket haul or score a century to be the MVP. He added that a small performance in a crunch situation changes the course of the game and Chakaravarthy did that.

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"The situation had turned bad" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's batting

Jason Roy's dismissal reduced KKR to 35/3 in the fifth over. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Reflecting on the Kolkata Knight Riders' batting, Aakash Chopra pointed out that they were in a spot of bother due to the loss of early wickets, elaborating:

When Kolkata got to bat first, Gurbaz wanted to hit the ball to Charminar but the ball only went straight up. After that, Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed with a bouncer. Things had got stuck and Jason Roy got out there, which means the situation had turned bad.

The reputed commentator praised Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell for taking KKR to a fighting total, stating:

"The situation was extremely bad. But there came Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh was there along with him, and then Andre Russell. The three of them fought and took the team to a good score and that's a fighting total."

Rana (42 off 31) and Rinku (46 off 35) strung together a 61-run fourth-wicket partnership. The latter then added 31 runs for the fifth wicket with Russell, who smoked a 15-ball 24 before falling prey to Mayank Markande.