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Venkatesh Iyer said KKR's basic meaning of aggression is showing a positive intent and explained how...
Read More Venkatesh Iyer propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to a dominating 80-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL 2025 match held at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. The INR 23.75 crore man said he justified his role in the team rather than his paycheck after smashing a 29-ball 60.
“After the IPL starts, it does not matter what Rs 20 lakh or Rs 20 crore is. The price tag does not define what you play or how you play. High payment and high expectations.
I just want to contribute to the team’s success," Venkatesh said at the post-match press conference. Venkatesh took SRH skipper Pat Cummins apart in the 19th over, as he led the onslaught with KKR ransacking 78 runs in the last five overs of their innings and touching the 200-run mark for the first time this season. When asked about his knock, Venkatesh revealed that the main job of assessing conditions was done by Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi during their 81-run partnership, and the pair then communicated it to the rest of the batters on how to go about their innings.
“The ball was sticking a little, it was turning. So it was important for us (him and Rinku Singh) not to chew a few balls, but to take time to understand what the pitch has to offer. You know, and we have that luxury because, I mean, I have that luxury because we have Rinku Ramandeep (Singh) and (Andre) Russell in the back end.
Even if I take a few balls, I know that I can cover it to an extent. We still have our engine room who can demolish any bowling attack," he said. Venkatesh also explained that the process behind the madness of their attack at the end had started at the beginning of their innings.
“It was never easy for a new batter to go out there and hit. And to be very honest, even if Ramandeep and Russell would have come in the 18th over, they would have had to take a couple of balls to understand the nature of the surface. I had that luxury, Rinku had that luxury.
We had taken a few balls, and then it became easy for us." “Once we hit the 17th over, we just understood that we can tee off now. We’ve taken enough time.
We had to hit because we have three more batters coming in. But in order to hit and in order to execute the plans properly, it was important for us to spend time out there, and that’s what we did," he added. When asked about KKR’s approach to power-hitting on a difficult pitch, given the talk surrounding aggressive batting, he said, “I think the basic meaning of aggression is showing a positive intent.
It’s very important for us to show positive but correct intent." While defending the total, Vaibhav Arora gave KKR the perfect start as he sent back Travis Head and Ishan Kishan in consecutive overs at the top, as Harshit Rana dismissed Abhishek Sharma, leaving SRH reeling at 9/3 in 2.1 overs.
SRH never really recovered from that as spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy choked out the rest. Venkatesh was full of praise for his bowlers as they executed plans perfectly. “We always knew that a team which is ultra-aggressive, a team which always looks to score runs, always carries the risk of getting wickets, and that’s what we wanted to exploit," he said.
Too Many Runs At The End And Too Many Wickets Up Front SRH’s pace bowling coach James Franklin accepted that 200 was a ‘gettable’ score. “In the back end of our bowling innings, they (KKR batter) scored pretty freely. I think they scored 60-odd in the last four overs.
But at half time, we certainly felt we were in the game. And I think unfortunately, just in that power play, we obviously lost three wickets in the first three overs," James Franklin said at the post-match press conference. He, though, was quick to add: “You don’t want to take away from the natural intent of our top order and the way that they bat, because as we’ve witnessed it quite a lot over the last year.
It’s breathtaking when it’s going well. And just the last couple of games, it hasn’t quite worked.".
