“…In Front Of Their Faces”: Shreyas Iyer Reveals How He Stumped Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR

Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer advised his troops to remain humble after their historic 16-run win towards Kolkata Knight Riders at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Opting to bat first, Punjab’s batting debacle bundled them to 111 in 15.3 overs as Harshit Rana snared three scalps whereas Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine bagged two wickets apiece. In reply, Yuzvendra Chahal returned with career-best match figures of 4-28, whereas pacer Marco Jansen picked three scalps to script an exciting win for the house aspect. It was the bottom efficiently defended whole in IPL’s historical past.

“It is hard to express in words. I was just backing my instincts. I saw the ball turn a bit, and asked Yuzi to control his breathing a bit. We needed to be attacking and the right players were in the right places. It is tough to talk right now and such wins make it special,” Iyer mentioned within the post-match presentation.

“I personally felt, when I went out to bat, I faced two balls – one stayed low and one hit the bottom of the bat, people were finding it difficult to sweep. There was variable bounce in the wicket, we got a decent total to be honest, looking at the win of 16 runs. The bounce was not consistent. We had this at the back of our mind, and we asked the bowlers to keep this in mind. And they executed it.

“Two wickets in two overs that gave us that type of momentum and the 2 batters got here in and took the momentum in the direction of them. When we noticed Yuzi got here in and switch the ball, our hopes and expectations had been increased and I wished the sphere to be attacking and proper in entrance of their face in order that they make errors and the tide turned in the direction of us. It is necessary we keep humble and never get over-hyped with this win. It is necessary we take all of the positives from this recreation and attempt to execute from ball one within the subsequent recreation,” he added.

With eight factors in six matches, Punjab Kings have moved to the fourth spot whereas KKR are reeling at sixth place with six factors in seven video games.

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