Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has heaped praise on two of the Kolkata Knight Riders batters – Ventakesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi.
Both of these young players have impressed for KKR in the second phase of IPL 2021. Iyer and Tripathi added 88 runs off just 52 balls against Mumbai Indians and helped their team in chasing down 155 runs.
Iyer has had a dream start to his IPL as he scored 41* and 53 against RCB and MI respectively. On the other hand, Tripathi is well known to hit the ground running and scored a vital knock of 74 runs off just 42 balls against MI. Furthermore, the right-hander scored a quality knock of 45 runs off just 33 balls against Chennai Super Kings.
Both Iyer and Tripathi have played fearlessly and they have done a fine job for KKR at the top of the order. The duo was bagged by KKR for a collective prize of INR 80 lakhs.
Manjrekar said in a video presented by Dafa News, “Really all the success that you see in Kolkata is on the back of Venkatesh Iyer, who have given them flyers, setting the mood for the rest of the batting. So this is the guy that Kolkata bought for ₹20L base price. There is also a Rahul Tripathi who was bought for ₹60L. Two guys with low-price tags making a huge impression. And I just love the way they are playing innocent and selfless cricket. They are not going and looking for their own interest. They are just going out there and giving their best, that’s great to see.”
On the other hand, KKR has also impressed with the ball as they kept the opposition in check. Lockie Fergusson has express pace under his belt whereas Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine have bamboozled the opposition batters with their variations.
“The real strength and long-term asset that Kolkata has is their bowling. Lockie Ferguson can bowl at 147kmph, can bowl straight yorkers, and is looking really good. Andre Russell’s fitness has been the best news for KKR and he’s bowled all the difficult overs. Varun Chakravarthy has always been a wicket-taker for Kolkata and Sunil Narine despite his bowling action changes still making an impression. Prasidh Krishna is always there looking really good.”
KKR will aim to continue the good show in the IPL and they have kept themselves in the race for the playoff stages. Eoin Morgan has led with aplomb and the players have grabbed their chances.
