“We have this history in the last few games” – Captain Shreyas Iyer highlights KKR’s weak links after big loss to DC

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer picked out death bowling and the top-order’s lean form as areas needing improvement. KKR crashed to their second defeat of IPL 2022, losing by 44 runs to the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a colossal 216, KKR got off to another timid start. They limped to 43 for 2 in the powerplay overs, falling way behind the asking rate. Although Shreyas (54 off 33) and Nitish Rana (30 off 20) resuscitated the innings with a 69-run alliance, the scoreboard pressure resulted in a collapse.

The KKR skipper acknowledged that his team have struggled to explode off the blocks in the five matches so far. But he defended his boys on tonight’s performance, saying they had to fire on all cylinders from the word go.

“I am absolutely not worried about the starts we are getting. When you are chasing 215, you need to get off to a really good start. You can’t think twice about what the bowlers are going to bowl. Because you have to have that attacking mindset right from ball one, and one mistake can get you out as a batsman. So I wouldn’t blame anyone in this particular chase.

“But yes, we have this history in the last few games that we didn’t get really good starts. And obviously, that is also something we need to work on. This is just the early stage of the tournament, so once we start practising more and executing stuff really well on the field, I think things would be taken care of pretty well,” Shreyas Iyer told reporters at the post-match press conference.

Earlier, after being put into bat, the Capitals were cruising towards shattering all records – they were 148 for 1 in the 13th over. But star spinner Sunil Narine (2 for 21) pulled things back as DC lost three wickets for 13 runs. But a 49-run unbroken alliance off just 20 balls by Axar Patel (22* off 14) and Shardul Thakur (29* off 11) ensured Delhi breach the psychological 200-run barrier.

While tweakers Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (1 for 44) have managed to strangulate oppositions in the middle overs, KKR have often leaked runs at the death. For the record, the Kolkata seamers have an economy rate of 13.5 in overs 16 to 20 this season. Shreyas Iyer admitted that they need to put in work behind the scenes on nailing yorkers and showing discipline in the death overs.

“It’s not a concern, it’s definitely something we need to work on as a team. Even when we practise, we need to see to it that we execute the yorkers rightly and bowl according to the plans that we have before the match. We’ve got an amazing bunch of bowling team, we’ve got amazing coaches as well.

“So it’s just that we back our strengths and see to it that we don’t think negatively at that point of time. Yes, we have been just okay in the previous games as well, at the death. But it’s something we can work on and come back really strong,” he said in response to a Sportskeeda query.

KKR still held on to the top spot with 3 wins from 5 games, while DC climbed to sixth in the IPL 2022 points table with 2 wins and as many losses under their belt.

Check out the full IPL teams owner here.

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“Our strength has been chasing” – Shreyas Iyer defends decision to field

Prithvi Shaw (51 off 29) and David Warner (61 off 45) put on 93 runs for the opening wicket [Credits: IPL]

All 20 matches in IPL 2022 have seen captains win the toss and elect to field. While it definitely gives an edge in evening matches because of the dew, IPL teams can definitely mull utilising the fresh wicket on sunny afternoons.

Shreyas, however, shot down talk around how bowling first is becoming a trend. The 27-year-old reasoned that he wanted to back his side’s strengths – KKR have won all three games chasing.

“It’s not like a pattern. We felt that the wicket had really good moisture in it. So we know that we’ve been backing our strengths right from the first game. And our strength has been chasing. In the four games which we’ve played previously, three of them we won chasing. So we backed our strengths and the decision doesn’t really matter to be honest - winning or losing the toss what you do. We are a bunch of professionals, we should be able to execute at whatever position we are put in,” he iterated.

According to the IPL schedule, KKR will next play the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the same venue on Friday (April 15). DC have an even longer break as they face the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium the following day.