Eden Gardens: Inconsistency has been a problem for Venkatesh Iyer this IPL. Since that century against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, his highest score in his six innings since was only 31.
At the Eden on Thursday against Rajasthan Royals, the left-hander batter top-scored for the Kolkata Knight Riders with 57 (off 42 balls), but was scratchy at the same time, especially at the start of his innings which affected skipper Nitish Rana’s flow in particular. Iyer then departed at a time his team needed him to stay out there in the middle.
A rescue act from Andre Russell and Rinku Singh, the Knights’ saviours in their previous game against Punjab Kings, didn’t happen on this occasion as all that KKR could manage was a modest 149/8 after the Royals won the toss and opted to bowl.
Trent Boult after dismissing Knights opener Jason Roy. He also took a catch to dismiss Venkatesh off Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling. Sanat Kumar Sinha
On a dry Eden pitch, the Royals’ decision to bowl first did come as a surprise. More so, as the Knight Riders bowling attack comprise spinners who would fancy their chances bowling on such a track.
The Royals bowlers, however, backed up the team decision, not letting the KKR batters blaze away while taking wickets at regular intervals. Besides, they were excellent in terms of their ground-fielding, making some brilliant saves at the deep that denied the Knights at least 15-20 runs if not more.
Knights Riders’ captain Nitish Rana at the Eden on Thursday. Sanat Kumar Sinha
Senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/25) starred with the ball for the Royals once again, going on to become the highest wicket-taker (21 scalps) not just in this IPL but in the competition overall (187). But before Chahal had made his presence felt, it was Trent Boult (coming in place of Kuldip Yadav) who struck early by dismissing openers Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Both Roy and Gurbaz fell to fine catches by Shimron Hetymer and Sandeep Sharma, respectively. With captain Rana in form and Russell and Rinku yet to arrive, the Knights didn’t really need to panic.
But Iyer, off the first 16 balls he faced, managed only seven. He did try to compensate by smashing Ravichandran Ashwin for back-to-back sixes and then hitting two more, but couldn’t outsmart Chahal.
Alongside Rana and Iyer, Chahal’s guile also negated the Rinku factor after trapping Shardul Thakur lbw with one that didn’t turn much. Some credit, though, should also go to Kerala quick KM Asif.
In his first appearance after a month, Asif set Russell up with short-pitched stuff before accounting for the Jamaican with a back-of-a-length ball.
Rinku earns high praise
Calcutta: Rinku Singh didn’t score too many at the Eden on Thursday. But the way the left-handed batter has risen to stardom this IPL with his daredevilry, Harbhajan Singh thinks he will get an India call-up soon.
The Kolkata Knight Riders batter was out for 16 against the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, but his tally of 353 runs at an average of 50.43 and a strike rate of 146.47 is impressive. That’s besides his superhuman act of hitting five sixes in the last over of the chase against Gujarat Titans earlier in the season.
“That India cap is not far away from Rinku’s head. He’s such an inspirational player. He’s run all the hard yards and worked very hard to get to where he is today. Full credit to him for having that belief in himself. His journey is a life lesson and all young kids should learn from him,” Harbhajan told Star Sports.
