Sunil Narine makes it a first over to forget for Varun Chakravarthy
The Knight Riders opener smashed 24 runs in the mystery spinner's first over
Sreshth Shah at Eden Gardens
27-Mar-2019
Varun Chakravarthy was taken apart by Sunil Narine in his first over • BCCI
Varun Chakravarthy, the Kings XI Punjab 'mystery' spinner who was bought for INR 8.4 crore - 42 times his base price - had one of the worst starts for an IPL debutant, against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Wednesday. Sharing the new ball with Mohammed Shami, Chakravarthy conceded 25 runs in his first over, courtesy three sixes and a four from Knight Riders pinch-hitting opener Sunil Narine.
It was, in case you were wondering, the worst debut over in IPL history.
And here's how the over played out, as recorded by our ball-by-ball commentary team:
1.1 Varun to Lynn, 1 run, looped onto a full length, dabbed cautiously off the legs to midwicket
1.2 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, plonked into the dug-out! Plants the front foot, swings through the line, clean over long-off! Old Mystery 1 New Mystery 0
1.3 Varun to Narine, 2 runs, through Varun's fingers! Smashed back down the track and he can't cling on to his left!
1.4 Varun to Narine, FOUR runs, honked through midwicket! That's another calculatedly aggressive mow. No need for finesse, just pummel it to the rope!
1.5 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, that's gone many a mile! Right to the pitch of this one, a booming slog sweep, high over the leg side! Big pressure now!
1.6 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, sliding down the leg side, and launched over backward square! Yeegads, Narine's at it again!
To his credit, after conceding 25 runs in his first over - Chris Lynn had scored one off the first ball - and nine in his second, he ended with 1 for 35, after sending back Nitish Rana in his third over.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo