Iyer kissed the coin before flipping it in KKR’s match against RR at the Eden Gardens.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer's coin-kissing act didn’t produce desired result in the IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday (April 16).
Notably, Iyer had kissed the coin before flipping it during KKR’s last encounter against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). While the antic worked for him a few days ago, it failed versus the table-toppers RR.
In the top of the table clash, the toss was crucial for both sides as the Eden Gardens has produced some high-scoring games this season.
Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar, who was conducting the toss, told Sanju Samson about Iyer's coin-kissing antic, which left the RR captain stunned.
When Manjrekar asked Shreyas Iyer about this ritual, the KKR skipper replied: “It was a flying kiss.”
Meanwhile, Samson opted to bowl first after winning the toss. The skipper also revealed that Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the last match, were available for KKR clash.
"We would like to bowl first. Might be better to chase on this. Very much excited to be back in Eden Gardens, there's a great vibe in the stadium. Jos and Ash are available for this game, so they are coming back," Samson said at the toss.
However, Buttler was named in the Impact substitutes' list and he is likely to bat for RR in the second innings with three overseas players featuring in the playing XI.
Shreyas Iyer also admitted at the toss that he was looking to bowl first. "Would have loved to bowl as well based on the last game, on how the ball moved around. Whenever he (Narine) comes in, he is hard to read and he's got that poker face all throughout, we want him to perform him the way he has. We are playing the same team," he said.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Jos Buttler, Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Nandre Burger
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora