Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Venkatesh Iyer for playing a fiery knock in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Qualifier 1 win against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 21. The left-handed batter scored an unbeaten 51 off 28 balls with the help of five fours and four sixes while chasing 160.
While reflecting on KKR’s chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Rahmanullah Gurbaz kept hitting after stepping out. He had taken the match forward very quickly before he got out to T Natarajan. When he got out, Venkatesh Iyer came in. Venkatesh Iyer is saying – ‘Flower samjhe kya, fire hai main’. He batted extremely well. The template this team has changed deserves special praise.”
“You could have played cautiously in the run chase as you don’t want to be hasty but Venkatesh Iyer was in full flow. He stepped out and hit Pat Cummins straight, then a pull and knelt and hit Vijayakanth Viyaskanth for a six. He was very, very good. So applause with both hands for Venkatesh Iyer,” the former India opener further added.
“Sunil Narine got out for sure but he too had scored 21 runs by then. Then Shreyas came. He got a life and then he also opened his arms. It was extremely important for Shreyas Iyer to do well. He said before the tournament that he would be the anchor. I felt he was selling himself short. You associate such kind of batting with Shreyas Iyer,” he again shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also praised Shreyas Iyer for playing a much-needed attacking knock. He hit an unbeaten 58 off 24 balls, a knock studded with five fours and four sixes. He and Venkatesh stitched together an unbroken 97-run third-wicket partnership to seal the deal.
“Mitchell Starc – take a bow, outstanding. There is something about the Australians – when it’s playoff time, cometh the hour, cometh the man. The huge amount that was spent is being discussed for all the right reasons because Mitchell Starc gave the Player of the Match performance. He broke the back at the start itself. Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets. He bowled extremely well, which he always does. He got Bhuvi (Bhuveshwar Kumar) out and picked up the massive wicket of Heinrich Klaasen. Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora took a wicket apiece, and Andre Russell also picked up a wicket in the end before leaving,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
