KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer hails ‘phenomenal’ assets of team allrounders Narine, Russell

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 30 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer heaped praise on West Indies allrounders Sunil Narine and Andre Russell and called them “useful and phenomenal” assets of the franchise in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Both Narine and Russell displayed a scintillitating performance during Kolkata’s clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday. With the ball, Narine scalped one wicket, meanwhile, Russell picked up two.

On the other hand, during the run chase, Narine opened for the Kolkata-based franchise along with Philip Salt, and scored a magnificient 47 runs from 22 balls at a strike rate of 213.64. He was also named the ‘Player of the Match’.

After the end of the match, while speaking exclusively to JioCinema, Iyer said that it’s hard to choose between Narine and Russell. The skipper also said that their presence in the squad is a ‘big positive’ for the franchise.

“You can’t choose because you’re talking about bowling at the death on one end and opening on the other. They’re both very useful and phenomenal assets for the team because if they have a rough showing with the ball, they can make it up with the bat. This is a big positive for our team,” Iyer was quoted in a release from JioCinema as saying.

Talking about the think-tanks of the team, Iyer said that their inputs on analysing the wicket and communicating information have been spot on.

“It’s going really well because the think-tank is vast. Everyone’s inputs have been spot-on in terms of analysing the wicket and communicating information. Our communication is very strong right now,” he added.

Recapping the match between Kolkata and Bengaluru, KKR won the toss and opted to field. After losing skipper Faf early, Virat Kohli had a 65-run partnership with Cameron Green (33 in 21 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and a 42-run stand with Glenn Maxwell (28 in 19 balls, with three fours and a six). Virat scored 83* in 59 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes and took RCB to 182/6 along with Dinesh Karthik (20* in eight balls, with three sixes) in their 20 overs.

In the run chase, Phil Salt (30 in 20 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (47 in 22 balls, with two fours and five sixes) put KKR to a fine start with a quickfire 86-run stand in 39 balls. After Vyshak and Mayank Dagar (1/23 each) dismissed the openers, Venkatesh Iyer (50* in 30 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (39 in 24 balls, with two fours and two sixes) guided KKR to a seven-wicket win with 19 balls to go.

RCB is sixth in the points table with a win and two losses. They have just two points. KKR is at second with two wins in two games, with four points.