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After winning the encounter against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer lauded the all-rounder Sunil Narine for his all-round performance in the game saying that his role was to clear the infield.
With a scintillating batting display, the Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team to win away from home in this IPL following their comprehensive seven-wicket win over RCB on Friday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Iyer played an unbeaten innings of 39 runs off 24 balls with the help of two boundaries and two maximums in the innings at a strike rate of 162.5. The 29-year-old player asserted that when Russell came and bowl, the team relasised that there was no help for the bowler from the pitch so the bowler went for the slower ones. "Coming here, getting those two sessions of practice, we were in a good shape from the previous game. Coming and hitting few balls, it felt comfortable from within. The way Russell came in and realised the wicket wasn't giving much from bowlers, and went to slower ones, analysing the conditions on the spot was pleasing to the eye. The communication was brilliant. See when Narine comes in to open, he knows he has one job which is to clear the infield," Iyer said in the post-match presentation. The Mumbai-born cricketer further stated that he is not expecting much from theteam at this point as it is just the start of the tournament. "Today we were contemplating whether to start with him or not but he did a brilliant job. From one end, it was good to bat on. From the other end it was two paced. That was the communication we had in the middle and we passed it onto others. Would be spending a day tomorrow in Bangalore, and then go to Vizag. I'm not expecting much at this point of time - it's just the start of the tournament. Want to enjoy each other's success - that's the plan for now," the right-hand batter added. Coming to the match, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first. While batting first, RCB with the brilliance of Kohli's unbeaten knock of 83 runs, the franchise scored 182/6 in 20 overs. For KKR, two wickets each were grabbed by Harshit Rana and Andre Russell in their spells of four overs where they conceded 39 runs in their respective spells. One wicket was bagged by Narine in their respective spells of four overs, where he conceded 40 runs. In reply to RCB's total, KKR chased down the target of 183 runs in the 17th over with seven wickets in hand. Venkatesh Iyer scored fifty in 30 balls with the help of four sixes and three fours. Narine played a quickfire knock in the powerplay, where he scored 47 runs on just 22 balls with five maximums and two fours in his innings. Narine was awarded the Player of the Match for his all-round performance. (ANI)
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