Varun Chakravarthy has become the mystery spinner Kolkata Knight Riders refuse to release. Across seven IPL seasons—six with KKR and his 2019 debut with Punjab Kings—the Tamil Nadu leg-spinner has pocketed 100 wickets in just 83 bowling innings. His economy rate of 7.58 runs per over is built on 1,888 balls of relentless pressure, and every 18.88 balls he strikes again. The 31-year-old has turned games on their heads eight times with three-wicket bursts and once produced a magical 5-wicket haul that still echoes in IPL folklore. While his batting card shows only 26 runs from 47 balls, those numbers underline a man hired to bamboozle, not belt. With KKR retaining him from 2020 through the 2025 auction, Varun Chakravarthy remains the Purple spin king Eden Gardens trusts to defend totals and shatter chase scripts.

Chris Gayle IPL story: 13 seasons, 4 965 runs, 357 sixes and one unforgettable 175. The self-styled “Universe Boss” walked into IPL 2009 with Kolkata Knight Riders, but it was at Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011-2017 that he became a global T20 icon—belting 404 fours and 357 sixes overall at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 148. In 141 innings he cleared the rope once every 9.3 balls and produced 31 half-centuries plus six blistering hundreds, the most famous being his record 175* off 66 balls at the Chinnaswamy in 2013. After his Bengaluru fireworks, Gayle took his power game to Punjab Kings, turning up in orange from 2018 to 2021 and continuing to pepper boundaries with the same ruthless ease. While he rolled his arm over occasionally—18 wickets in 38 bowling innings—his narrative is written in soaring sixes and match-winning hundreds that re-defined T20 batting forever.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.