Shreyas Iyer was a disappointed captain as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered a humiliating 75-run defeat at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Match 53 of the IPL 2022 at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Saturday (May 7).

Asked to bat first, LSG posted 176/7 in their 20 overs with vital contributions from Quinton de Kock (50 off 29 balls) and Deepak Hooda (41 off 27 balls).

In reply, KKR’s innings folded for a paltry 101 in 14.3 overs. It was a listless performance as seven of them in the batting line-up got out for a single-digit score. Andre Russell fought a lone battle with the bat, scoring 45 off 19 balls.

Speaking after the game, Iyer admitted that they were outplayed by the KL Rahul-led side in all departments.  

“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,” he said at the post-match presentation.

When asked about his decision to bowl first on a two-paced pitch, Shreyas Iyer said it's him and head coach Brendon McCullum who take a call on what to do after winning the toss.

“We (Myself and McCullum) discuss about 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,” the KKR captain stated.

Shreyas Iyer is hoping that his team will be able to assess their flaws and bounce back in the next game.

“We are not able to capitalize on the small things. In the middle overs we have been bowling amazing, 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,” he concluded.

Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Mumbai Indians in their next match at DY Patil Stadium on May 9.