Kolkata Knight Riders vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer doesn’t believe in preparing specific pitches at home turf; as a professional cricketer, he intends to adjust to whatever is on offer. However, he admitted that it would be good for the defending champions if the conditions at Eden Gardens match their requirements. The heated debate about home advantage against a fighting strip began when Eden pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee denied the franchise skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s request to prepare spin-friendly tracks in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
KKR skipper’s remark came after the defending champions’ prime weapon, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, was pummelled and clobbered during their 43-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the lung-opener of the cash-rich league.
Rahane’s deputy, Venkatesh, weighed in on the home advantage against a competitive turf after KKR’s commanding 80-run triumph against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden. According to him, as a cricketer, he believes in adjusting to the conditions on offer but admitted it would be an advantage if they get what they want at Eden.
“We bowled very well. We used conditions well. We used the pitch conditions well. I don’t believe the pitch should be like this or that; we are professional cricketers, so we will adjust to it. But yeah, if we get the conditions we want in our home, it will be good for us,” Venkatesh said in the post-match press conference.
Even KKR’s mantra for success was about adjusting and adapting to the conditions after being put to bat by the Sunrisers. After an entertaining fifty from Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh and Rinku Singh spent time on the crease to alter Hyderabad’s perception of the chase.
From being a beleaguered side, dwindling at 122/4 after 15 overs, Rinku and Venkatesh raised a 91-run stand in just 41 balls to lift the hosts to 200/6, turning a manageable ask for SRH into a daunting affair.
Venkatesh, who blazed his way to 60 from 29 deliveries, decoded his approach, which outlined that taking a couple of deliveries to set eyes instead of going berserk from the first ball is still a formula for success.
“The messages that they (Ajinkya Rahane and Raghuvanshi) sent during the time-out, they made us understand that it’s not an easy pitch to just go out there and hit. You have to take your time. Ball was sticking a little, it was turning. So it was important for us not to chew a few balls, but to take time to understand what the pitch has to offer,” Venkatesh said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
“And I have that luxury because we have Rinku, Ramandeep (Singh) and (Andre) Russell in the back-end. Even if I take a few balls, I know that if I can cover it to an extent, we still have our engine room who can demolish any bowling attack. So the plan was to understand the pitch first and then react accordingly,” he added.
The approach worked wonders, as Rinku and Venkatesh accelerated in the 15th over, batting at full throttle to raise the heat in Eden. After steering KKR to a competitive 200/6, the Sunrisers floundered in the powerplay and lost their top order without inflicting much damage on the hosts.
Hyderabad needed a miracle to salvage a victory, and that moment never arrived as they packed their bags on 120, surrendering to an emphatic 80-run defeat.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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