Star bowler Varun Chakravarthy showed great form upon his return to the playing XI, as he picked up the wicket of dangerous batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the very first over that he bowled. The incident happened during Match No. 28 of the Indian Premier League between KKR and RR at the Eden Gardens, and the wicket made Chakravarthy the fastest Indian spinner to 200 T20 wickets and second-fastest among all Indians.

The ball that got Chakravarthy to the landmark was pitched full with an ample amount of flight that lured Sooryavanshi to go for a huge slog towards the leg side. However, the 15-year-old was trapped by the amount of air on the ball and miscued the ball up in the air as Ramandeep Singh ran in and completed a sensational catch in the deep mid-wicket region.

Chakravarthy finished his brilliant spell with an astonishing figure of three wickets for just 14 runs, where he also accounted for the wickets of Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Varun goes past Kuldeep, Unadkat and Shami

While Chakravarthy is the fastest Indian spinner to achieve the landmark, he is only behind Arshdeep Singh, who took 151 innings to achieve the milestone. He also overtook fellow teammate Kuldeep Yadav (160 innings) by taking five fewer innings than the left-arm bowler to go past the 200-wicket mark. Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Shami complete the top five list with 162 and 165 innings, respectively.

For the unversed, the mystery spinner started his IPL career with Punjab Kings in 2019, but he has been with Kolkata Knight Riders thereafter all through. The seasoned bowler also captains Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit in the shortest format of the game.

Fastest to 200 Wickets by Indians in T20s

Last updated: April 19, 2026

Former batting icon Sachin Tendulkar has heaped praise on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shreyas Iyer after his stupendous fielding effort against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, April 16. 

Whilst guarding the long off boundary, Iyer took a sublime catch off a Hardik Pandya shot, only to reverse cup the ball whilst being airborne to avoid the ball going for a six, with Xavier Bartlett completing the catch. 

Tendulkar was left in awe of Iyer’s agility and game awareness and praised the India batter for his judgment in doing everything correctly, to not only prevent a boundary but to dismiss a dangerous batter in Hardik. The legendary batter called it one of the best catches he has ever seen live in a stadium.

“What made Shreyas Iyer’s catch so special was not just the athleticism, but the awareness behind it. He had to judge the speed of the ball, the height, where the boundary rope was, how close he was to stepping on it, and get his jump absolutely perfect. Then, while still in the air, he caught the ball and released it to a teammate before landing, all the while knowing exactly where that fielder was positioned. To process all of that in a split second takes unbelievable awareness, timing, fitness, and composure. @ShreyasIyer15 got everything spot on. One of the best catches I’ve ever seen live!” Tendulkar posted on X (formerly Twitter). 

Iyer’s contribution in the field was not the only praiseworthy activity he carried out during the game against MI. The PBKS captain once again played an outstanding innings with the bat to help his side maintain their unbeaten start to the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 31-year-old scored 66 from just 35 balls to help PBKS chase down 196 with 21 balls to spare. Iyer has been the Kings’ best batter this season, hitting 203 runs from four innings at a strike-rate of 187.96, whilst averaging close to 68.

Aaron Finch heaped praise on Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Josh Hazlewood after his Player of the Match-winning performance against the Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, April 15, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Hazlewood bowled disciplined lines inside the power play and didn’t allow the Lucknow batters to free their arms. He was rewarded for his consistency in the seventh over, as he dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran. In his four-over spell, the Australian pacer gave away just 20 runs and picked up one wicket.

Finch said that no one gets surprised when Hazlewood does well, as cricket enthusiasts are used to his consistency and excellence. The former Australian skipper added that Hazlewood doesn’t concede 50 runs in an IPL game too often.

“The most important thing is that every team that he has played for, whether it has been MI, CSK, where he has won a title, you know what you are going to get day in and day out. That’s what you want as a captain. He’ll run in and he’ll bowl the same stuff day after day and get the results. No one is surprised any time he does well. Because you have to bat really well [against him]. Very rarely do you see him go for 50,” Finch said during a discussion while explaining Hazlewood’s impact as a seamer in the IPL.

They were just going for everything: Ambati Rayudu slams Lucknow Super Giants’ batting

Ambati Rayudu slammed the Lucknow batters, saying that Rishabh Pant and Co. didn’t assess the conditions after being asked to bat first and instead, threw their bats at everything coming their way.

“Good teams assess the conditions really well when you are batting first. I didn’t see anything of that sort happen in the Lucknow batting order. They were just going for everything. You knew that the ball was actually stopping in the pitch. It was bouncing a little more and just gripping a little bit. You know it’s a 170 wicket. You need to play as if you are chasing 170 or 180,” Rayudu said.

Lucknow were bowled out for 146 in 20 overs, with Mukul Choudhary top-scoring with a 28-ball 39. Rasikh Salam Dar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged four and three wickets, respectively. In reply, the defending champions romped home with five wickets and 29 balls to spare.