Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) stunned Mumbai Indians (MI) with a 52-run win. However, Shreyas post-match interview during the presentation ceremony was even more shocking. Roped in for Rs 12.25 crore at the mega auctions as the captain of KKR, Shreyas revealed that even CEO is involved in team selection.
“It is really difficult (to tell players about axings). Coach (Brendon McCullum) and at times, CEO (Venky Mysore) is also obviously involved in team selections. Each and every player takes it well, and they have put in their best efforts,” the 27-year-old said.
Shreyas made as many as five changes to the side in KKR’s must-win clash. He showed faith in KKR’s retained players Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy and senior player Ajinkya Rahane. He also brought in Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins and wicketkeeper-batter Sheldon Jackson.
The move worked as Venkatesh played a whirlwind knock of 43 from 24 deliveries in the powerplay overs. Rahane was not as destructive but scored 24 runs opening the innings in place of out-of-form Aaron Finch.
Cummins bowled his best spell of the season with three wickets in a single over to derail MI’s run chase of 166. Mystery spinner Chakravarthy got the crucial wicket of Tim David as well.
“Very pleased because after losing the last game by a big margin, feels good to come back and win by a big margin is nice. We had a nice start in the powerplay and Venky targeted bowlers well. I personally felt that it wasn't easy to start for a new batter. When we went into bowl, the plan was to hit the right areas and not give room,” Shreyas further added.
KKR are still alive in the race for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 playoffs with eight points from 12 games. The big win also helped them improve their net run rate (NRR) considerably. However, their playoffs chances will depend on results of other games as well.
“The win was comprehensive, and when I spoke to the players, they were pumped up to win the game today. I'm not satisfied (totally) but want to maintain this,” the KKR skipper concluded.
