Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has urged Ajinkya Rahane to back under-fire Varun Chakravarthy in IPL 2026. Chakravarthy had a rough start to the season, conceding 48 runs in his quota of four overs against Mumbai Indians and also went wicketless.

The mystery spinner wasn’t at his absolute best in the T20 World Cup and conceded his runs at a high economy rate towards the business end of the tournament. Chakravarthy took 14 wickets in the T20I showpiece and ended as the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Pathan urged Rahane to not bowl Chakravarthy in the Powerplay overs.

Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “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.”

The former swing bowler reckons KKR can bench Anukul Roy for a specialist batsman against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“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.

On the other hand, Pathan reckons Ishan Kishan’s captaincy was disappointing against RCB in the tournament’s opener.

He concluded, “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.”

KKR will take on SRH at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday.