Raipur, May 13 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders spin-bowling all‑rounder Anukul Roy has said the role of fielding in boosting confidence across both batting and bowling has been huge, as the three-time champions aim to keep themselves alive in the race to playoffs in IPL 2026.

Roy’s good time in IPL 2026 continued when he took out Pathum Nissanka (50) and Tristan Stubbs (2) in the same over, while taking a brilliant catch of captain Axar Patel to play a vital hand in KKR getting their fourth straight win with an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals last week.

“Fielding gives you confidence to perform, both in batting and bowling. If the fielding is good, you get a different kind of confidence from within while bowling. So for me, it is extremely important and really helps my performance,” Roy said in a pre-game chat with the broadcasters, ahead of their clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

On sharing the spin bowling unit with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, Roy added, “I get to learn a lot, things like what field positions to take in the Powerplay, how to bowl, how much variation to use, what kind of seam ball to bowl.

“I keep discussing all these things with Sunil Narine and Varun bhai. We also talk about how to bowl between the (7‑15 overs) and how to use fielders, what kind of deliveries to bowl. We keep having these discussions among ourselves.”

With KKR needing victories to stay in contention, Roy emphasised the importance of this clash. “If you look at it that way, we need to win all four matches. So the effort will be to take it one match at a time. And if this match also goes our way, it will be even better.”

Asked about Chakravarthy’s availability, especially with the wrist spinner seen limping while bowling in New Delhi, Roy said, “I don’t have an idea about that yet, but we will get to know after the toss, around toss time.”

–IANS

nr/