Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder David Wiese, who played his first match for the franchise on April 23, 2023, against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Eden Gardens, said that it was tough seeing more support for CSK and MS Dhoni in Kolkata than for KKR.
The Knight Riders lost to the four-time champions by 49 runs after failing to chase down 236. The iconic venue in Kolkata was flooded with fans of CSK and their talismanic skipper MS Dhoni.
“It’s tough when you come into a home game and you have got more opposition support than home support. But then, I suppose that’s the Dhoni effect. It is tough when you are out there and the momentum switches and the crowd his behind the opposition team and it gets louder and louder.
Things just tend to not go your way and it is easy to get carried away with everything. But that’s the nature of the game. But it is always a pleasure and privilege to play in front of so many fans,” Wiese told reporters in post-match conference.
Despite Jason Roy’s 61 and Rinku Singh’s 53*, KKR couldn’t get close to CSK’s total of 235 runs and finished on 186/8 and lost by 49 runs. For CSK, Tushar Deshpande and Maheesh Theekshana picked two wickets each.
Ajinkya Rahane Came In And Played A Fantastic Innings: David Wiese
Wiese lauded the brilliant innings played by Ajinkya Rahane and said that the right-hander took the game away from the Knight Riders. Rahane became the Player of the Match after he scored an unbeaten 71 off 29 balls with six fours and five fours.
Thanks to his knock, CSK scored 126 in their last eight overs at an economy rate of 15.75.
“We didn’t feel like we bowled too badly. We stuck to our lengths, we stuck to our plans, but they ended up playing some good shots. Halfway through, they were 110 off 12 overs, we contained them quite nicely. Ajinkya Rahane came in and played a fantastic innings. He was complemented by everybody else who came in,” Wiese added.
With their fifth loss of the season, KKR are now in danger of going to the bottom of the points table, while CSK went to no.1 spot with 5 wins and 10 points.