New Delhi: Venkatesh Iyer scored the first century for KKR since Brendon McCullum’s 158 and guided his team to a total of 185 against Mumbai Indians. He scored 104 off 51, hitting 6 fours and 9 sixes in the inning. While Iyer fought the lone battle, Andre Russell gave a good finish with his 21* off 11. On the other hand, MI spinners were highly economical and picked three wickets between them.
Dre Russ was the second-highest scorer for the Knight Riders which shows that Iyer had to do the heavy lifting with the batting line-up.
.@venkateshiyer ? Hitting SIXES for fun
Watch two of those MAXIMUMS ? ? #TATAIPL | #MIvKKR | @KKRiders
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/CcXVDhfzmi pic.twitter.com/ZJgcsJ7117
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 16, 2023
Piyush Chawla and Hrithik Shokeen were great with their spinning web. Chawla showed his experience and even bowled in the powerplay, to end his four overs with 19/1 while Shokeen picked 2 for 34.
KKR lost an early wicket as N Jagadeesan was sent back on duck by Cameron Green as Shokeen took a diving catch. While there was a 46-run stand between Iyer and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the opening batter was dismissed by Piyush after contributing 8(12).
Nitish Rana’s wicket created a lot of drama. Shokeen got him for 5(10) and gave a send-off which escalated. Captain Suryakumar Yadav and senior Piyush Chawla had to interfere to settle things.
Shardul Thakur was promoted ahead of Rinku Singh and Russell and he could contribute only 13 off 11. Rinku also scored a run-a-ball 18, not doing much in the death overs. For MI, Cameron Green, Duan Jensen and Riley Meredith were expensive but they picked a wicket each.
MI’s regular captain Rohit Sharma suffered a stomach bug and Suryakumar stepped in as the skipper for the game. Arjun Tendulkar also got his debut, getting his cap from Rohit. The pacer bowled two overs and gave 17 runs.
