Sunil Narine returned 2 for 31. And Varun Chakravarthy 3 for 36. That’s 8-0-67-5. Pretty much game, set and match for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) right there over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). For KKR, who have now won three in a row after losing five (plus a washout) in IPL 2026, it’s a big comeback, and it’s coincided, unsurprisingly, with Varun’s return to form, even as Narine has continuing to do what he has done season after season.

On Sunday afternoon/evening in Hyderabad, Narine gave away 20 runs in his two powerplay overs. And then just 11 in his last two – the tenth and the 16th. A chokehold if there ever was one. And Varun? He came on after the powerplay and was taken for 13, primarily by Travis Head. He took out Head in the ninth over but still went for 16. But he bounced back in the 12th, removing R Smaran and giving away just four runs, and then removed Aniket Verma and gave away just four more in his last over, the 14th.

“Varun started off bowling at a slightly faster pace and then he slowed it down [in the middle overs] once he got hit,” Ambati Rayudu pointed out on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “I think he has come back very, very well into this tournament is now using the crease very well and also the angles well and also his pace. Whenever he bowls slow on a track like that, he is not easy to play against.”

Varun was struggling early on, starting the tournament with 0 for 48 and 0 for 31. Then came a gap as he dealt with a hand injury. And in the last four games, it’s been 10 for 117. With Narine stingy as always, KKR have got a good thing going. Which SRH found out on Sunday.

“I think they found a [good] length with the spinners in particular,” Daniel Vettori, the SRH coach, said at the press conference after the game. “Chakravarthy was able to take wickets even after we put him under pressure in those first couple overs, and wickets in T20 games and the IPL are the biggest currency. That’s what they managed to do the whole time.

“It’s two world-class spinners, who have plied their trade for a long time and been so successful for KKR and then the wicket just held up enough as the ball got older. I think it was probably more the softness of the ball rather than the pitch and we had an opportunity just to get through that period to try and set it up for the last four or five overs once the spinners had finished their allotment of overs.

“But just losing wickets at crucial times and probably the manner as well where we had the opportunity to get through that period and to lose those wickets in that fashion just held us back.”

As discussed on ESPNcricinfo early on in the IPL season, Varun’s form after a poor T20 World Cup was a worry for KKR. On TimeOut, Piyush Chawla and Rayudu had agreed that the “desperation” to get wickets was making Varun search for magic balls. He was bowling faster, not putting enough revs on the ball, and was just not getting it right. He is back now, though. Perhaps a bit late in the day for KKR to make a dash for the playoffs, but if Varun and Narine can keep doing it, who knows what might happen.