Shreyas Iyer admits that Impact Player rule certainly helped KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) created a sweet historic moment for themselves by defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede after 12 years in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Batting first, KKR were in early trouble as Nuwan Thusara blew away their top order into smithereens and then very soon, with the departure of Rinku Singh courtesy of evergreen Piyush Chawla, KKR were struggling at 57/5 with 13.5 overs still remaining to be bowled. 

Then Venkatesh Iyer combined impact substitute Manish Pandey and executed a fine rebuild of KKR’s batting innings. They notched up a partnership of 83 runs in just 10.1 overs and ensured that KKR reached a respectable 169 against the home side. 

Skipper Shreyas Iyer seemed quite relieved after the win, as it takes them to 14 points after 10 games and almost on the verge of playoff qualification. Amidst praising his bowling attacks’ defence of the total, he especially highlighted the assistance his team gained from the Impact Player rule in the game. 

“If we lost this, would've had to win two out of four. I would take this any day. Beautiful victory for us. Hope we could've cherished this one. But we have a match day after as well. Certainly, this impact player rule has helped us in this game. Manish has been eyeing an opportunity from Day 1. Today, he got it. We got to a commendable total,” he said. 

“All I had to say to the boys was we can defend it with our bowling lineup. They [Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy] were unreal, to be honest. Absolutely spot on in terms of execution with lines and lengths. He's [Venkatesh Iyer] been eagerly waiting to go out and express himself in earlier games as well,” Iyer said before signing off. 

Manish Pandey’s partner in crime, Venkatesh Iyer, also praised his performance and defended the decision to send him as an impact sub so that the late entry of their finishers, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh, could be maintained. 

“This is the fourth or fifth time Manish has padded up. This time he got to bat. Rather than sending Russell and Ramandeep higher, having Manish, who can play the anchor role is better. The ball was holding, and it was a two-paced wicket. I try to be a smarter cricketer. It would've been easy for me to go after Piyush Chawla and the fast bowlers. The team needed me to be there till the end,” Venkatesh said. 

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