IPL 2024: ‘I am glad this happened,’ says KKR captain Shreyas Iyer after Kolkata lose to Chennai Super Kings; here’s why

IPL 2024: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) continued their impressive run at their home ground, the MA Chidambaram Stadium, popularly known as the Chepauk Stadium, on Monday, April 8, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Following the match, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer said that the Kolkata batters had struggled to read the pitch effectively.

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"We weren't able to assess the conditions quickly after the powerplay, scoring runs wasn't easy. They (CSK) know the conditions pretty well, they bowled according to their plans," newswire PTI quoted Iyer as saying.

He mentioned that once a set batter was dismissed, it became challenging for a new one to score runs aggressively. Kolkata had their share of power-hitters. While Sunil Narine had a start, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell could not make a significant impact in the IPL match.

"It wasn't easy (for the new batters) to go after them from the first ball. We were trying to construct the innings, but it didn't fall in place according to the plan. The wicket changed after the powerplay. We were in a comfortable place and we thought 160-170 was a good score, but we lost momentum," Iyer added.

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Iyer also said he was “glad” that this happened at the start of the tournament.

"We have to go back to the drawing board and got to learn from that. I am glad this happened at the start of the tournament. When we go back, we know our home conditions pretty well. We need to analyse the situations and need to make the best use of it."

Ravindra Jadeja’s magic spell

Before the KKR match, CSK spinners hadn't taken many wickets. However, in the CSK vs KKR match, the spotlight belonged to their spinners. Both Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana bowled brilliantly. KKR were 56/1 when Jadeja came to bowl. He dismissed 2 batters in that over and claimed another wicket later on.

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KKR never recovered after that vicious spell. Jadeja bagged the Player of the Match award for his 18/3 in 4 overs.

(With PTI inputs)