Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer was proud of his players for putting up a fight against Royal Challengers Bangalore after posting a 129-run target in front of them. After a dismal batting performance, KKR bowlers pulled them back in the second half but failed to hold the nerves in the last two overs where RCB snatched away victory from them.
Iyer revealed what he told his players before entering the ground in the second half of the game and they made him proud with an effective performance with the ball.
“I really found this game exciting. Before getting in, I spoke with my boys and told them that this game is going to define our character and attitude on the field no matter we defend or not. The way we fight it on the ground, that is really going to reflect our mentality in the next few games. I am really proud the way we played this game and took it till the last over,” Iyer said at the post-match presentation.
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The KKR captain further heaped praises on the opposition middle-over which put up a fight after losing heavyweights – Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli early.
“It was really tough at that moment because I wanted to get my best bowlers up there and get a few wickets early on but it didn’t work out really well. Kudos to their batsmen, they played really well out in the middle. They took out the toughest phase as soon as possible,” he added.
Iyer made a gamble by giving the penultimate over to Venkatesh Iyer, who hasn’t bowled before that in a match. However, the skipper feels that he needs to back his players at the crucial stage.
“In the end, I decided to go with Venky because he’s also got really good experience bowling at international level and you need to back them especially at the start of the tournament. It’s really important they gain confidence as early as possible and this was one of the best games to get that,” he said.
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He further talked about the below-par batting performance from his players and he said his team need to rectify some mistakes from this match.
“The wicket was looking a bit dicey at the start, it was two-paced, variable and the bounce was odd. We wanted to get off to a really good start and that’s what we planned. The execution part was tough. We are going to come back with the same mindset, we are not going to chicken out. That’s what we want to focus on and that’s what we spoke about coming into the tournament that we’ll be someone who’d be taking risks. Next time when we come, we need to rectify the errors and see to it that we get the momentum as early as possible,” he said.
The KKR captain also talked about RCB’s Wanindu Hasaranga who picked four wickets and dismantle their middle-order.
“He (Wanindu Hasaranga) bowled really well, he got off to a good start after getting my wicket. I was able to read him pretty well at the start. We had decided that we’ll play him as an off-spinner but unfortunately he bowled really good lines and lengths. He’s also very experienced and he was getting some help on this wicket. Congratulations to him,” he concluded.
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