Mumbai, May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders starter Venkatesh Iyer did not give up hope when he was going through a rough patch at IPL 2022 and instead focused on his ‘process’, hoping to make a mark when he got the next chance. to play for the franchise.
Iyer, who was in sublime form for KKR last season (he scored 370 runs in 10 matches during the UAE leg of IPL 2021), suddenly found himself in the midst of a slump in IPL 2022, which he forced head coach Brendon McCullum to drop him after the team’s loss. loss to Delhi Capitals on April 28.
With just 132 runs from nine matches, the season seemed lost for the 27-year-old, before he was given another chance to salvage his season on Monday night against the Mumbai Indians.
He scored a 24-ball 43, helping Kolkata get off to a fast start after being pushed to bat first. Venkatesh made good use of his feet and crease to bring out KKR’s fifty by getting an outside edge past Kumar Kartikeya Singh’s third man and then taking out his slow sweep to hit a clean six into the middle of the deep wicket.
Although Kartikeya had the last laugh when a leading slog went to cover point, Venkatesh had done his job by getting off to a fast start in powerplay, which produced 64 runs, making it Calcutta’s best powerplay score and the the first time his starting position went beyond fifty runs, with Ajinkya Rahane getting just nine runs from the first six overs.
Iyer admitted during an interaction with teammate Pat Cummins that he was finally relieved to have played a decent shot in his team’s victory.
“I just wanted to go out there and have fun. It’s been a pretty tough period for me, but I’ve been focused on my process rather than the result. I can’t control what happens in between… the number of runs scored.” or the amount of land taken. (But) I can control my process and that’s what I’ve been doing. (He) feels happy to contribute to the team’s victory,” Iyer said.
Of him trying to mimic Andre Russell’s celebratory template after the West Indian fired Ramandeep Singh, Iyer said: “He just went with the flow… when you don’t know the move, you just stand there and admire what the guy does.” great man (Russell) is doing”.