Concerns grow over Varun’s injury management during IPL season

A couple of days after BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia does not interfere much in injury management during the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Shane Watson on Wednesday revealed that Varun Chakravarthy, a centrally-contracted India player, has been playing with a hairline fracture in his left foot while helping KKR stay alive in the IPL 2026 playoff race.

Speaking after KKR’s win over Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens, Watson said Varun has been managing pain while continuing to bowl crucial overs for the team.

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Earlier this week, Saikia had said that while the BCCI and Centre of Excellence physios continue monitoring centrally contracted players during the IPL, franchises are primarily responsible for handling player injuries and workload during the tournament.

“So far as IPL is concerned, franchises take care of the injuries and fitness of the players. Of course physios from COE (Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru) are also monitoring them, workload as well as plan on how to keep them fit,” Saikia said.

“The monitoring is there but when IPL is going on, we cannot interfere too much, had it been Indian team situation, our control would have been more,” he added.

“Now we are giving freedom to franchises to take call on the players. We will definitely look at their fitness level when it comes to selecting the national team,” Saikia further said.

On Wednesday, a desperate KKR once again fielded Varun despite carrying the injury. The spinner returned figures of 0/28 in four economical overs. Watson admitted that the player was “playing through a bit of pain” while praising his performance in the match.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure of where he is on his rehab journey at the moment. All I do know is he’s obviously playing through a bit of pain at the moment, which just shows how brave he is, how much he wants to be here to be able to contribute for KKR, and he’s still bowling beautifully,” Watson said after the match.

The mystery spinner has been one of KKR’s most consistent performers this season alongside Sunil Narine, especially after a difficult start to the campaign.

“It’s been brilliant to be able to see [Varun’s] turnaround from the first few games of the season, to then the impact he’s been able to consistently have every single game,” Watson said.

“And we are so lucky to be able to have someone of Varun’s skill and also his desperation to be able to be here, and to play for KKR, because with the pain that he’s managing, he could have easily just said, ‘look, I don’t want to be a part of this, I’m just going to go and rest it’.

“So we’re very fortunate that he’s all in, and he’s done a brilliant job again tonight.”

The match also saw an unfortunate collision between Varun and young batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi while attempting a catch during Mumbai’s innings. Raghuvanshi collided with Varun while running in from behind the stumps and later walked off the field after feeling discomfort.

Watson confirmed that the youngster suffered dizziness and neck pain after the incident and was unable to bat later in the game.

“Angkrish, unfortunately… he ran a long way to be able to try and get that catch. And unfortunately the collision that he had with Varun Chakravarthy meant that he ended up having some neck pain, a bit of dizziness and a headache within a couple overs of that as well,” Watson said.

“So, yeah, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish off the game and I know how desperate he was as well. He’s someone who, he’s as tough as a competitor as I’ve ever met. So, we certainly missed him from a batting perspective,” the former Australia all-rounder said.

While KKR will hope both players recover well ahead of their final league-stage match against Delhi Capitals on Sunday as they continue fighting to stay alive in the playoff race, the franchise’s injury management surely raises some serious concerns.

Although Chakravarthy is not currently part of India’s ODI or Test plans and the upcoming Afghanistan series does not feature T20Is, concerns remain around whether the spinner could worsen the injury ahead of the UK tour if he continues playing through pain for KKR. India are scheduled to play seven T20Is in Dublin and England starting June 26.