Shamik Chakrabarty at Eden Gardens
Venkatesh Iyer stood and walloped, serving up a reminder about his ability with the bat in T20 cricket. After a couple of failures, Kolkata Knight Riders’ most expensive buy — Rs 23.75 crore — was under pressure. Just one blazing knock doesn’t a redemption make. But the team’s vice-captain regained his attacking mojo and cleared the clouds that were gathering on the purple sky.
Patience is at a premium in modern-day sport, especially in instant cricket. KKR looked like a leaky boat without any oars on the coast of the Arabian Sea only three days ago. And after another single-digit score, Iyer found himself at the receiving end of social media trolls. Why did KKR break the bank for him at the expense of the likes of Phil Salt or Shreyas Iyer felt like a legitimate question. The left-handed batter came up with a resounding response against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.
The final over of the KKR innings was bowled by Harshal Patel. Dreadful would be an understatement, but even the loose deliveries needed to be put away. A slower delivery was sent 20 rows back over the long-on boundary. The next-ball, a full-toss, was slashed over short third for four. The Cricket Association of Bengal chose the moment to put out the official attendance for the game — 34,000. It was sparse by Eden Gardens’ standards for an IPL game. High ticket prices could be a reason, as also KKR’s demoralising defeat in their previous match against Mumbai Indians. Those who cared to turn up were thoroughly entertained by scintillating stroke-play from Iyer.
The pitch was a bit sluggish with a few spots on it. The ball wasn’t quite coming on to the bat and after 15 overs, KKR were 122/4. Given that 175-180 was the par score on this pitch, they needed a strong finish. Cometh the hour, cometh Iyer. He laid into Simarjeet Singh and then bludgeoned Pat Cummins — 4, 6, 4, 4. Why Simarjeet was given his full quota of overs and the ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis got only one was a question for SRH captain Cummins to address. Iyer didn’t mind. His 60 off 29 balls and a 91-run (43 deliveries) fifth wicket partnership with Rinku Singh sealed the deal for KKR.
Hopefully, the monkey is off his back now. A price tag that high can weigh heavy on any player, especially if he is not part of the Indian team. Iyer has the ability to put things in perspective. “It (pressure) exists. You can’t ignore it,” he had said before the start of this year’s IPL, adding: “But when the IPL will start, it really doesn’t matter. You are a part of a playing XI. You are a part of a team that is going out there to win.” He channelled his inner match-winner to set up his team’s victory in a very crucial game.
Iyer had scored 370 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 158.79 in KKR’s title-winning campaign last year. The team management would hope the knock against SRH would be the start of a golden run this term.