Venkatesh Iyer had a goal — to be Kolkata Knight Riders’ second centurion. That’s what he had also spoken about to Brendon McCullum, who was the franchise’s as well as the IPL’s first-ever centurion, hammering that unforgettable unbeaten 158 off 73 balls in the tournament’s inaugural game 15 years ago.
Having accomplished his goal at the Wankhede on Sunday with a 51-ball 104 against Mumbai Indians, Iyer recalled his interaction with McCullum during his early days in the team when the latter was head coach of the Knight Riders — last year and in IPL 2021.
“When I first came into the team (in 2021), I remember having a conversation with Baz (McCullum) in Chennai. He asked me about my personal goals for the season.
“I told him, ‘I want to be the second person to score a century for KKR’. He then told me, ‘With a correct attitude, you might end up scoring two’. Unfortunately, I couldn’t score any century that season, but I am really happy that it happened on Sunday,” Iyer told KKR Knight Club.
Tuesday (April 18) marked 15 years of McCullum’s blazing knock against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy back in 2008. Like the former New Zealand captain, Iyer too scored a hundred at a strike rate in excess of 200, though he would have been happier had the Knight Riders won against Mumbai on Sunday.
“Feels great to score a century. I have always wanted to score a T20 hundred and I am extremely happy that it happened on Sunday.
“But I would have been happier if we had finished the game on the winning side. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. So next time, I’ll ensure the team wins from my effort,” Iyer said.
Elaborating on his mindset when in the 90s, Iyer said: “Obviously, I wanted to score a hundred, but the scoreboard was not working when I was in the 90s. So I didn’t really see what score I was on.
“In a T20 game, there’s no room for personal milestones as you have to keep going at the bowling, especially in the death overs. In hindsight, we can talk about being 15-20 runs short, but the way we approached the innings was fabulous.”
Last year was far from perfect in terms of numbers for the all-rounder, while he also had to go through the troubles of an ankle injury a few months back. Looking back at that phase, Iyer said: “Last year has been nothing short of an adventure for me.
“In an athlete’s career, there will be a lot of days where you feel you are not performing up to the mark and there will be a lot of criticism. But I personally enjoyed it a lot last year as I got to learn a lot from cricket. And in turn, I have evolved as a human being.
“A freakish injury also happened. However, I’m happy that I’m back on the field playing the game I love the most.
“Scoring runs, not scoring runs and picking up wickets are all secondary. But coming back and playing competitive cricket is something that makes me smile, especially after what the doctors had told me looking at my leg.”
