Following their victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders‘ (KKR) batsman Venkatesh Iyer praised his teammate Sunil Narine for his explosive performance during the powerplay, alleviating pressure from the batting lineup.
Narine, a seasoned player from the West Indies, marked his 500th T20 appearance with an outstanding display, contributing significantly to KKR’s emphatic seven-wicket triumph over RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Venkatesh Iyer credits Sunil Narine for his comeback knock
Venkatesh, who himself scored a half-century during the match, appeared to sustain a back injury while executing a shot. Despite this setback, his contribution was noteworthy.
Iyer said in post-match that, “Let us see how my back is. I will know after a scan. The ball was coming on well in the evening. Credit goes to Sunil Narine, whose runs took the pressure off us. We just had to finish the formalities.”
“With a platform like that, you have to maximise (on his mindset). Also, my fiance was here today so it was a special day. (Facing Vijaykumar Vyshak) Pace-off in totality was tough but if fast bowlers bowled pace-on, it was easy to take them to the cleaners. It happened with us in our bowling innings too,”
He added, “The wicket was two paced and double bounce in first innings. And it was very difficult to hit bounderies in first innings. And pitch getting better to bat in second innings in yesterday’s match at Chinnaswamy.“
Despite scoring 83 runs off 59 balls, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Kohli faced criticism for the pace of his innings. Nonetheless, Venkatesh disclosed that the pitch exhibited a two-paced nature, with the first innings being slightly slower. After Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss, they elected to field.
Despite the early loss of skipper Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli built partnerships, including a 65-run one with Cameron Green (33 off 21 balls) and a 42-run stand with Glenn Maxwell (28 off 19 balls). Kohli remained unbeaten on 83 runs off 59 balls, guiding Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a total of 182/6 in their allotted 20 overs, supported by Dinesh Karthik’s quickfire 20* off eight balls. Andre Russell (2/29) and Harshit Rana (2/39) impressed with the ball for KKR.
In response, Phil Salt (30 off 20 balls) and Sunil Narine (47 off 22 balls) provided KKR with a strong start, setting up an 86-run partnership in just 39 balls. Venkatesh Iyer’s unbeaten 50 off 30 balls and skipper Shreyas Iyer’s 39 off 24 balls steered KKR to a seven-wicket victory with 19 balls remaining.
Sunil Narine was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ for his performance in his 500th match, contributing with both bat and ball. RCB occupies the sixth position on the points table with one win and two losses, while KKR sits in second place with two wins out of two matches, accumulating four points.
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