Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer admitted that Lucknow Super Giants outplayed them after they lost by a gargantuan margin of 75 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday. LSG posted a par score of 176 runs after Iyer won the toss and decided to bowl first but in response, KKR were skittled out for 101.
Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda added 71 runs for the second wicket after KL Rahul was run out without even facing a ball. De Kock scored his 19th IPL fifty as he was able to hit the ground running. Hooda also continued to impress as he raced to 41 runs off just 27 balls before he was dismissed by Andre Russell.
Subsequently, Krunal Pandya and Ayush Badoni struggled to change gears however Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder were able to add the finishing touches as Shivam Mavi was taken for five sixes in an over.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a horrid start as they found themselves at 25-4 at the end of seven overs. Mohsin Khan, Jason Holder, Avesh Khan, and Dushmantha Chameera scalped one wicket each to put the opposition on the ropes.
Andre Russell played a blistering knock of 45 runs off just 19 balls but none of the other KKR batters could get going. Avesh Khan returned with impressive figures of 3-19 in his three overs and he was awarded the Player of the Match.
Shreyas Iyer said in the post-match presentation, “They outplayed us in both the departments – batting and bowling. We got off to a bad start in the powerplay and also we leaked a lot of runs in the death overs. We couldn’t read how it (the pitch) was going to play, and based on that we elected bowling. I thought we could have restricted them to 155-160. They got to a really nice total in the end. We (Myself and McCullum) discuss chasing, we have this conversation every now and then. I have won a lot of tosses, but it would have been good if I lost those tosses. We are not able to capitalize on the small things. In the middle overs, we have been bowling amazingly, just that we need to do well in the powerplay and in the death overs. We need to assess that and bounce back. In the next three games, we need to do that.”
KKR have struggled to get going in the ongoing season as they have managed only four wins in 11 matches. The Shreyas Iyer-led team will next face Mumbai Indians at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Monday.
