Shreyas Iyer had a decision to make. Kolkata Knight Riders were playing their IPL 2024 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens, and the equation came down to 13 runs off the final over. Sunrisers, riding on Heinrich Klassen’s pyrotechnics, looked favourites to pull it off.
For Iyer, Andre Russell would have been the safer choice. The senior all-rounder still had two overs left and he was bowling well. Iyer chose the young Harshit Rana instead. Rana’s brilliant final over, in which he got two wickets, secured a four-run victory for KKR. According to team insiders, Iyer later explained his thought process to his teammates. Rana was having a good game and the captain decided to throw him into the deep end. It was instinctive captaincy. It was first-class stuff.
A couple of months later, Iyer took his team to the IPL final with a resounding win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Qualifier 1. In the process, he became the first captain in the IPL to reach two finals with two different teams. He had earlier led Delhi Capitals to their first-ever IPL final in 2020.
After KKR romped to the final on Tuesday, the franchise’s media unit shared a video of mentor Gautam Gambhir’s team talk with the designated IPL reporters. It was Gambhir’s first words to his boys ahead of the tournament.
“You guys are representing a very successful franchise. Make sure you train that way, you play that way, and you carry that attitude onto the field. Everyone in this group will be treated equally. There is no senior-junior, there is no domestic-international. Because we have one mission, and that is to win this IPL,” Gambhir had said. He insisted that KKR “should be there on May 26” for the final.
Gambhir has been rightly getting a lot of praise for KKR’s golden run this season. He has played a pivotal role off the field. On it, the decisions are being taken by Iyer. And he has seldom erred.
Take the case of giving Mitchell Starc an extra over upfront in Qualifier 1. The Rs 24.75 crore fast bowler was making the new ball talk, moving it in the air and off the deck. But after dismissing the dangerous Travis Head in his first over, he went wicketless in his second. Iyer sensed Sunrisers batsmen’s vulnerability against Starc and gave him another over. The latter returned with two more scalps, dismissing Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed off successive deliveries.
In other IPL news:
Kohli versus Chahal is just a subtext in this knockout contest between RCB and Rajasthan Royals
✍️@Fancricket12@RCBTweets @rajasthanroyals @IPL #RRvsRCB #RCBvsRRhttps://t.co/yrkRi78Ck5
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) May 22, 2024
The way he plotted Klassen’s dismissal was also praiseworthy, keeping fielders at deep square leg and deep mid-wicket and asking Varun Chakravarthy to lure the batsman to target the shorter boundary. Klassen fell into the trap.
“Shreyas Iyer has been outstanding with his changes thru out (sic) the season. But today he took his captaincy to another level,” former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan posted on his X handle.
Iyer came into this IPL under pressure. He was dropped from the Indian team midway into the home Test series against England followed by losing his central contract. He wasn’t considered for the T20 World Cup either. KKR and the IPL provided him with a platform to make a statement. And Iyer has made a mark. He has done enough to lead the team of the IPL.
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