IPL 2022: KKR coach explains the change in batting order against RR!

Kolkata coach McCullum has revealed the reason behind dismissing Venkatesh Iyer in the middle order in the match against Rajasthan.

The 30th league match of the IPL series was played at the Mumbai Stadium yesterday. The Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals clashed. Batting first, Rajasthan lost 5 wickets at the end of 20 overs and scored 217 runs. Jos Butler scored 103 runs.

Following this, Kolkata lost all their wickets in 19.4 overs and scored only 210 runs. Thus Rajasthan lost by 7 runs. Captain Shreyas Iyer scored 85 and Aaron Finch 58 for Kolkata.

The match almost came close to victory and in the end the Kolkata team embraced defeat as they lost consecutive wickets. Venkatesh Iyer, who is usually the opening batsman for the Kolkata team, surprised everyone by becoming the 6th player in the tournament.

Kolkata coach McCullum explained the situation. In it, "We thought that Narine and Finch at the top was a very good opportunity. We knew that the wicket was going to be good; it was going to be a high-scoring game. We know how Narine plays. Unfortunately, he didn’t face a ball tonight. It can happen sometimes, but Finch and Shreyas Iyer were absolutely brilliant at the top of the order.”

“We wanted to give Venkatesh Iyer an option through the middle against spin in particular - against (Ravichandran) Ashwin and Chahal. He’s a very good player of spin and, with one short side, we wanted to try and maximize that. So, that was the thinking behind it.”

Sunil Narine, who made his debut in the match, was run out without facing a single ball. Similarly, Venkatesh Iyer, the 6th wicket-taker, was dismissed for 6.