Kolkata Knight Riders rookie bowler Harshit Rana was given the last final by skipper Shreyas Iyer when Sunrisers Hyderabad needed 13 runs to win the third game of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024 at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday.
Rana was put under the pump straight away as a well-settled Heinrich Klaasen smashed him for a six on the first ball of the over. However, Rana kept his cool and got rid of Shahbaz Ahmed and bamboozled Klaasen with a slower delivery to take his team to a four-run win.
In fact, KKR had the match in their grip but Klaasen was able to turn the tables. Mitchell Starc, who was bought for a whopping amount of INR 24.75 crores, was taken for 26 runs in the penultimate over of the run-chase.
Iyer recalled that Rana was nervous before bowling the last over but he was backing the youngster to get the job done for the team.
“Right from the 17th over I had butterflies in my stomach,” Shreyas said after the game. “And to be honest, in the last over I thought anything can happen, They needed 13 runs and we probably didn’t have the most experienced bowler bowling at that particular time. But I had that belief in him. I knew that something would happen.”
“This is the time where he could become a hero. That’s what I told him. ‘Back yourself. No matter what happens in this position, we’re going to back you’. To be honest, he was a bit nervous when he was coming to bowl. I looked into his eyes and I told him ‘this is your moment, buddy. You need to make the best use of it and don’t think much about it. ‘Even if we lose, it’s fine. You just back yourself and you see to it that you execute whatever I say and what messages we got from inside’. It was a big cluster (of players) in between, but I tried to calm him down as much as possible and then the rest is history.”
Iyer showered praise on West Indies duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. While Narine bowling an economical spell of 1-19 in his four overs, Russell scored a blistering knock of 64 runs off just 25 balls to help KKR get past the 200-run mark.
“They have such experience behind their back,” Shreyas observed. “Andre Russell, the way he started I’m elated to see the way he performed today with the bat and the ball getting those two crucial wickets out there and running around on the field. And Sunny (Sunil Narine) he has been tremendous with the ball over the years and executing the way he always executes. It was fantastic to see these two perform at their best and it’s like a luxury to have them in the team.”
KKR will next take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Friday.
