Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer credited his fellow-teammate Rinku Singh for his blistering finish against Gujarat Titans in a thrilling encounter on Sunday. The 25-year-old smashed five consecutive sixes in the final over to hand KKR a second straight win in the league stage.
Venkatesh Iyer was an important part of the KKR victory over the defending champions as he stitched 100 runs in 54 balls partnership alongside their skipper Nitish Rana. Iyer played a swashbuckling knock of 83 runs off just 40 balls with a strike rate of over 200.
“It was a nail-biting finish, extremely happy that we won the game. Our coach has always said that we can score 200 on any given day. Honestly, the wicket was quite good to bat. When the target is 200, you can’t have silent overs. I was just trying to execute my plans,” Venkatesh Iyer said after the match.
Venkatesh Iyer, who had a poor season in IPL 2022, which kept him out of the team for some matches in 2022 and came as an impact player against Gujarat Titans replacing Suyash Sharma, making an impact straight away for his team with the bat on the Number 3 position.
“Me and Nitish had a good partnership. Unfortunately, somewhere we lost our way but Lord Rinku saved the day. To be honest, we still believed that we could win. This teaches us that we should never give up until the last ball,” Venkatesh Iyer.
Iyer ruined their middle-order woes, as their team lost the plot after the dismissal of their skipper Nitish Rana, as Gujarat Titans stand-in skipper Rashid Khan picked up a hat trick wickets of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur to give Gujarat a clear advantage in the clash before Rinku Singh heroics sealed the victory for the two-time champions on the last ball.
We Want To Make Winning A Habit – Venkatesh Iyer
Speaking on the team’s performance, Venkatesh Iyer said that the team wanted to make a winning habit and also was happy with his performance against the Gujarat Titans, stating that he tried to use the pace as an advantage for his batting.
“We want to make winning a habit. I haven’t been in great form. Tonight, I went out and played as late as possible. The bowlers were quick and I tried to use their pace, and that worked to my advantage,” said Iyer.
Kolkata Knight Riders had a massive change in the coaching setup ahead of the season as their brought in domestic coaching legend Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach for IPL 2023. They will look to maintain their winning momentum when their take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 14.