Shreyas Iyer, captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, started talking after their match with Chennai Super Kings. He mentioned the loud noise made by the crowd at Chepauk Stadium. KKR had lost the match by seven wickets on April 8.
The fans in Chennai cheered loudly as their team won after losing two matches before. MS Dhoni came to bat when the winning runs were needed. The 42-year-old legend walked in at number five when just three runs were left. The packed stadium erupted with joy as Dhoni arrived.
Speaking at the post-game presentation, Shreyas Iyer thanked the crowd’s defensive clamor before discussing the game.
“It’s deafening out here, will try to express how I’m feeling.”
Shreyas Iyer
He added:
“We fell short in terms of assessing the wicket. Phenomenal start in the power play but we couldn’t capitalize. Couldn’t assess conditions, pitch completely changed after power play and to score runs, it wasn’t easy. They know conditions pretty well, bowled according to their plan. It was tacky, wasn’t easy to go big right from first ball. It changed tremendously after power play and the way we were trying to construct our innings, didn’t go to plan.”
Shreyas Iyer
KKR had an outstanding powerplay of 56/1 despite losing Phil Salt on the opening ball of the game. However, the introduction of Ravindra Jadeja changed the game, as he took three early wickets to reduce the visitors to 64/4 in the ninth over. KKR ultimately huffed and puffed their way to a subpar 137/9 in 20 overs.
“Have to go back to our drawing board and learn” – Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer stressed KKR’s struggle to adjust after powerplay when conditions changed. He said the team needs to learn from this experience to handle future games better.
Defending a modest total, KKR faltered against CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s knock of 67 not out off 58 balls. CSK won comfortably with seven wickets remaining and 14 balls unbowled.
“Have to go back to our drawing board and learn, just a matter of one match and one innings, glad it happened at the start of the tournament. When we go back, we know our home conditions pretty well, important to analyze and assess situations and make the best use of it.”
Shreyas Iyer
The setback was KKR’s first in IPL 2024, and they now sit second in the points table with three victories from four games. Meanwhile, CSK remained fourth with their third win in five matches.
Both teams will play their next match on Sunday, April 14, with KKR facing LSG and CSK facing MI.