The Knights stole Virat Kohli’s thunder at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
After Kohli smashed his second consecutive fifty of this IPL, making an unbeaten 83 off 59 balls, the Kolkata Knight Riders batters all chipped in to overhaul the 183-run target set by Royal Challengers Bengaluru with 3.1 overs to spare.
Among the Knights, Venkatesh Iyer finished as the top scorer with a 30-ball 50. The left-handed Iyer termed it “a special day” with his fiance present at the ground to witness him star in the seven-wicket win. But besides that, Iyer also credited Sunil Narine for laying the platform for the chase with a brisk 47 off 22 balls opening the innings.
“The ball was coming on really well in the evening... Credit goes to Sunil Narine whose runs took the pressure off us. We just had to finish the formalities. With a platform like that, you have to maximise,” Iyer said.
Shreyas Iyer, captain of the Knights, revealed that they were in two minds on whether to open the innings with Narine, but enjoyed the result after they went ahead with the Caribbean all-rounder.
“See Narine when he comes in, he has one job, that is to clear the outfield and get maximum runs. Today (Friday) was a phenomenal example. We were contemplating today whether to open with him or not, but this was great.” Shreyas said.
Narine, who was playing his 500th T20 game, also took Glenn Maxwell’s wicket while bowling and was adjudged the Man of the Match. Narine said “self-belief” and “encouragement” from support staff have helped him perform with the bat too.
With two wins from two games, the Knights are now “enjoying each other’s success”, captain Shreyas said.
