Varun Chakravarthy has continued to play for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their previous few IPL 2026 games, despite suffering a hairline fracture on his toe a while ago. With the franchise staging an unprecedented playoffs push in the second half of the tournament, the mystery spinner’s importance through the middle overs has increased. KKR head coach Abhishek Nayar even revealed that Chakravarthy has taken injections to get ready for matches. However, Chakravarthy playing through pain in the IPL has not gone down well among a section of fans on social media, who have pointed out that this could result in the detriment of the Indian team in the future.
Chakravarthy has been visibly hobbling and limping during KKR’s last few games, occupying fielding positions where the ball is less likely to travel.
Some fans have called for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to step in on the matter, given that Chakravarthy is a centrally-contracted player. Until very recently, he was the No. 1-ranked T20I bowler in the world, and finished as the joint-leading wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup 2026.
Varun is playing with a hairline fracture and commentators are praising him for playing through pain which is ridiculous. If you have guts, call out the franchise for playing a centrally contracted player despite injury and lack of control of BCCI over it.#KKRvMI https://t.co/v2ceRll68m pic.twitter.com/WVO7DHzncq
— Cricket Vibes_Arjav (@IamArjav) May 21, 2026
Varun Chakravarthy is clearly limping. Struggling to pitch the ball in the right areas. Better he shouldn’t play #KKRvsMI
— SREEKAR nyalkalkar (@nyalkalkars27) May 20, 2026
Rahane and KKR playing Varun Chakravarthy while he can’t stand properly. BCCI should take strict actions.#KKRvsMI
— Dave (ARTETA OUT) (@AFC_Dev17) May 20, 2026
However, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had mentioned recently that the board cannot interfere into IPL teams when it comes to fielding injured players. However, he had also clarified that franchises take care of injury concerns in cooperation with physios from BCCI’s Center of Excellence (CoE).
“So far as IPL is concerned, franchises take care of the injuries and fitness of the players. Of course physios from CoE are also monitoring them, workload as well as plan on how to keep them fit,” Saikia had 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. 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,” he had added.
Chakravarthy has taken 10 wickets in 10 games in IPL 2026, winning the ‘Player of the Match’ award twice. Incidentally, KKR’s only loss in their last seven games came when he did not feature.
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