In Saturday’s IPL 2025 season start, the reigning champion Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will square off. Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, KKR’s mystery-spin combination, will be back in action as they assist the Kolkata-based team in getting off to a strong start to the season.

Varun Chakravarthy expressed his excitement about playing against Virat Kohli in the tournament opener at the pre-match press conference. Since returning to international cricket, Varun has been playing at a very high level and is full of confidence.

I’m thrilled to be facing Virat. “He has performed admirably when batting against me, and I hope to perform admirably against him as well,” Varun Chakravarthy said to the media at the pregame news conference.

Since returning to the shortest format, he has claimed 31 wickets. After participating in 12 games, he bowled at an impressive strike rate of 8.9 and exudes confidence. In this competition, spinners Varun and Narine might be very difficult for any opponent to overcome. Additionally, the fact that they were both on the IPL winning squad the previous year will only strengthen their bowling abilities.

Varun also praised his buddy Sunil Narine, saying, “He’s one of the greats, a legend of the game.” He seems very well-prepared, and we spoke a few times this year. He hopes to compete in the IPL similarly to how he did the previous year.

He then said that he would be focusing on his package this year and that he would test some tactical changes during the 2025 Indian Premier League.

“There are only three possible directions for the ball to deviate: straight, left, or right. Whether I choose to go leg-spin or off-spin at this moment just relies on how I pick the sequencing. I’m trying to become better at it because that’s where the tactical aspect of the game comes in,” he said.