Varun's absence will be a big plus for RCB: Mohammed Kaif

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 13 (ANI): Ahead of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clash against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif said that the absence of spinner Varun Chakravarthy could be a "big plus" for the defending champions.
RCB will look to maintain the momentum after a thrilling two-wicket win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) when they lock horns with KKR, who have been on an upward trajectory after a hopeless six-match winless run, spanning five losses and a no result.
Since then, KKR has won four successive matches and thrown their name back in the contention for the playoffs.
A heartening aspect of KKR's recent form is the return of Varun among the wickets, who has taken 10 wickets in his past five matches after an initial three match wicketless run. He headed into the tournament after a 'tale of two halves' T20 World Cup, where he did top the wicket charts with 14 scalps, but could take just five wickets from Super Eight stage opener to the final and faced a heavy beating from batters.
But after appearing to have injured himself while fielding against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and limping against Delhi Capitals (DC), Varun's participation is under scanner. As per ESPNCricinfo, assistant coach Shane Watson said he was "sore and being monitored".
JioStar expert Kaif said on 'Match Centre Live' ahead of the clash, "If Varun Chakaravarthy is not available, then it is a big plus for RCB. He has come back into form recently. He was doing well and hitting the right areas. Virat Kohli is someone who loves to play against faster spin bowlers."
He also said that KKR would be hoping to have Varun playing since it would continue their long-time template of "two pacers, one all-rounder and three spinners"
"Anukul Roy is doing a wonderful job for them in the Powerplay. That gives them the cushion of using Sunil Narine a little later so that he can control the middle over phase," he added.
Squads:

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Rasikh Salam Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Philip Salt, Nuwan Thushara, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal, Vicky Ostwal, Swapnil Singh. (ANI)