‘Although he was aggressive, he managed to control his innings. His opening partnership with Shubman Gill was beautiful to watch.’
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Eoin Morgan hailed opening batsman Venkatesh Iyer for playing an unbeaten knock of 41 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season.
Shubman Gill top-scored against RCB with a knock of 48 runs as KKR chased down the target of 93 runs with nine wickets in hand and 60 balls to spare. With this win, Eoin Morgan's side has jumped to the fifth position in the points table while RCB remains static at the third spot.
For KKR, Venkatesh Iyer also played a knock of 41 runs off just 27 balls while for RCB, Yuzvendra Chahal took the lone wicket.
"Venkatesh Iyer, the way he came in and played was outstanding. Certainly, the brand of cricket we want to play. Playing under head coach Brendon McCullum, this is the aggressive nature of cricket we want to play. Although he was aggressive, he managed to control his innings. His opening partnership with Shubman Gill was beautiful to watch," said Morgan during a virtual post-match press conference.
Earlier, KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy returned with figures of 3-13 and Andre Russell also picked up three wickets as RCB was bundled out for 92 inside 19 overs. For Virat Kohli's side, Devdutt Padikkal top-scored after playing a knock of 22 runs.
"Yeah, I think the match-ups with Andre Russell really worked. The pitch the way it played throughout the whole innings was more seamer-friendly even though Varun had an unbelievable day. I thought the pitch assisted the seamers with big size boundaries," said Morgan.
"Yeah, there is no doubt that it will be a challenge from here onwards, but our main aim is to turn up and play cricket as we did with RCB. If we do that, then we give ourselves the best chance of progressing to the playoffs," he added.
KKR will next lock horns against Mumbai Indians on Thursday in the IPL.
