“It still hurts; he tortured us in the nets for a number of years” - Stephen Fleming on CSK being unable to pick Varun Chakravarthy at the IPL auction

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming has admitted that the franchise being unable to pick Varun Chakravarthy at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction still hurts them.

Chakravarthy was a net bowler with CSK for a few years. However, he ended up getting picked by Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) at the IPL 2019 auction for ₹8.4 crore. After a forgettable debut, he was released by the franchise and was picked up by his current team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the 2020 auction.

The 31-year-old has been in impressive form in IPL 2023, having claimed 19 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 20.58. On Sunday, May 14, he claimed 2/36 as KKR defeated CSK by six wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

In a post-match press conference, Fleming opened up on CSK missing out on Chakravarthy’s services, despite being well aware of his talent. He admitted:

"It still hurts us, that [not being able to buy him at the auction]. He tortured us in the nets for a number of years, but with the auction and the way it is, we couldn't retain him. And the thing is with the Tamil Nadu players all around the different teams, they knew about him as well and we were unable to keep him a secret.

"We were very excited by him as a talent when he bowled against us in the nets and we would have loved him. He went for a big price that first year.

"He went off a little bit and now he has come back. He had some injuries and now he looks fit. He bowled very well today [Sunday], so he's a weapon." Fleming added, "When you have [Sunil] Narine and him operating, they're a very potent combo in the right conditions. Probably in Kolkata, they don't get the most favorable conditions to bowl on, so coming to conditions like this, they excel."

Chakravarthy has played 55 IPL matches so far, claiming 61 wickets at an average of 25.61 and an economy rate of 7.41.

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“I am not sure we got the conditions right” - Fleming reflects on CSK’s loss

Batting first after winning the toss, CSK’s batters struggled for momentum. They only managed to put up 144/6 on the board, a total KKR chased down with ease.

Analyzing Chennai’s batting effort, Fleming commented that the think tank might have misread the conditions. He said:

“I am not sure we got the conditions right. Last game, it turned and got considerably harder to bat. This one, actually, had spongy bounce to start and then just lost a bit of sting as the game went on. Very difficult to try and work out what the surface is going to do with the dew. I have said it the whole way through, we are still learning about these new conditions.

Praising Kolkata’s spinners for exploiting the conditions very well, Fleming added:

“It was excellent bowling from them. You have two of the best with [Sunil] Narine and Chakravarthy. We didn’t respond well enough. We gave our wickets throughout the innings, maybe looking to get more of a score than we needed. A tough day, we struggled to get a good score on the board.”

Narine clean bowled Ambati Rayudu (4) and Moeen Ali (1) to finish with outstanding figures of 2/15 from his four overs.