Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer has backtracked from his comments that the franchise CEO Venky Mysore used to be involved in picking the playing XI.
After his team’s 52-run victory over MI earlier this week, Iyer had said it was tough to tell players that they were not in the playing XI while adding that coach Brendon McCullum and CEO Mysore have their say in the team combination.
Shreyas’s remarks had stirred controversy but he clarified his statement after KKR’s massive 54-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday (May 14).
"I want to clarify from the last interview. When I took the CEO's name, I wanted basically to say he's there to console players sitting out. Really tough for us as well when we select the teams," Iyer said at the post-match presentation.
Coming to the KKR-SRH clash, the Shreyas Iyer-led side posted 177/6 on the board after opting to bat first, with vital contributions from Andre Russell (49* off 28 balls) and Sam Billings (34 off 29 balls).
With the ball, KKR restricted SRH to 123/8 in 20 overs. All the Kolkata bowlers were among the wickets but it was Russell who stole the show, picking three wickets by giving away just 22 runs in his four overs. While Tim Southee (2-23) took two scalps, Umesh Yadav (1-19), Varun Chakaravarthy (1-25), and Sunil Narine (1-34) claimed wicket apiece.
“The mindset we came up in this game, it was simply outstanding. All the boys did the right things, they played fearless cricket. It was really important to win the toss. The teams batting first have won a lot of matches in Pune. Everything panned out really well,” the KKR captain stated.
“It was an over-par total. Sunil and Varun stepped-up on this slow wicket, they bowled smart and got crucial wickets. We never let them to get under our skins, kudos to that. We don't have anything to lose right now. We haven't played our A-game so far in the league, that's what I spoke today before the match started,” he added.
With this thumping victory, Kolkata Knight Riders jumped to the sixth spot on the points table and kept their playoffs hopes alive. They will take on Lucknow Super Giants in their next match on May 18.
