IPL 2024: “Couldn’t assess conditions,” admits Shreyas Iyer after KKR’s first defeat of the season against CSK by 7 wickets
Following three consecutive victories, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered their inaugural defeat of the IPL 2024 season on Monday, April 8.
In a low-scoring encounter at Chepauk, KKR fell to a seven-wicket loss against the reigning champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Opting to bat first, the visitors could only muster a subpar total of 137/9. It was a lackluster batting performance with no player managing to breach the 40-run mark. Skipper Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 34 runs off 32 deliveries.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja excelled with the ball for CSK, snaring three wickets while conceding a mere 18 runs in his quota of four overs.
In pursuit of the target, CSK relied on captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s composed innings of an unbeaten 67 runs from 58 balls to secure victory with 14 deliveries to spare.
Following the match, Shreyas Iyer conceded that his team failed to accurately assess the conditions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
“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,” Shreyas said in the post-match presentation.
“They (CSK) 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. We take those learnings and move forward.
“We were in a comfortable place, thought 160-170 was a great score. That was our plan but when you lose consecutive wickets it’s difficult to carry forward momentum. 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,” he added.
Even after the loss, KKR retains their second position in the team standings, accumulating six points from four matches.
The team led by Shreyas Iyer is set to take on Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday, April 14th.
