In the entire IPL 2022 season, Venkatesh Iyer managed only 182 runs. Now, in only 5 innings in IPL 2023, not only he surpassed that tally of last season, but the left-hander wears the Orange Cap after his sizzling century against Mumbai Indians on Sunday afternoon.
With 234 runs in 5 knocks at an average of 46 and strike rate of 170, Venkatesh Iyer is currently the leading run-scorer in the tournament.
Against Mumbai Indians, Venkatesh Iyer was hit on his right leg. In the 4th over of KKR‘s innings, he moved across the off-stump to play a lap shot off pacer Cameron Green. But he missed it and took a painful blow on the bone of his right leg.
Venkatesh Iyer went down to the ground and was seen writhing in pain due to the blow
It was a hard blow and Venkatesh was in severe pain and trouble.
Watch: Venkatesh Iyer gets a blow on his leg, falls in pain
However, the lanky left-hander didn’t give up and after a brief session with the physio, he was up and batting. Initially, after he resumed batting, it didn’t look comfortable, but as the innings progressed he got more into the groove and played some brilliant shots.
He played some terrific-looking shots, in particular up on the rise to pacers. He also was confident in using his feet against spinners. All in, Venkatesh hit 6 sweetly-timed fours and 9 gobsmacking sixes to entertain the capacity crowd at the Wankhede with his knock of 104 runs off 51 balls.
Venkatesh Iyer became the first KKR batsman to hit an IPL century after Brendon McCullum from 2008.
Speaking in the mid-innings break, Venkatesh said: “Feels great, coming to Mumbai and a game is always special. Getting a hundred is even more special. I think the boys will defend this total. I want to play for the team, I am not going to think about the 16th over when I am in the 6th over, just try to focus on the present moment, don’t want to think far too ahead. The cutters and slower balls are gripping, so we will look to exploit the conditions. Wickets will be key, if we get early wickets in the powerplay, we can put pressure on their middle order. I just go out there and do what has been done. Abhishek Nayar has been working with me, improving me not only as a player, but also personality-wise.”
Earlier Suryakumar Yadav had won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Riley Meredith
