Shreyas Iyer might have had a really quiet season with the bat for the KKR, but in the end it is the trophy that matters the most. After all, the team lost only three matches along the way, and had everything going their way. Openers fired, with Sunil Narine and Phil Salt doing bulk of the damage at the top, middle-order supported well throughout, and spinners and pacers were equally good.
Most importantly, youngsters like Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, and Harshit Rana emerged as solid competitors for the future. All in all, it was a season where they were Invincibles, or so thinks Shreyas Iyer.
“This is what we demanded from the team and every individual, they stood up on the right occasion,” Shreyas said, after KKR secured a third IPL title, their first since 2014. “It is hard to express how we are feeling right now. The wait was so long. We played like invincibles throughout the season. There is so much to cherish right now.”
Shreyas Stuck to Mitchell Starc
After being bagged for 24.75 Cr in the IPL auction, Mitchell Starc did not have the best start to the season. He was being hammered all over the park, and wickets were hard to come by. But despite garnering a lot of criticism, skipper Shreyas stuck to Starc as one of his prime bowlers. And the results showed, as he ended 17 wickets in 14 matches.
In fact, his unplayable delivery to Abhishek Sharma at the start of the final, changed the course of the match.
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“The performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now. We have been tremendous right from game one. “That [big games] is when all the big players stand up,” he said. “It was a high-pressure game. He has been so good off the field. He has never shown any sort of complacency in his work ethic. Every time we used to go for the plunge pool, he used to be there… Something for everyone to learn.”
Andre Russell Lucky for KKR
On the other hand, Shreyas was also praise for Andre Russell, who bagged 3/19 in the final. He finished with 19 wickets in the season and also scored 222 runs. “He has got that magic wand, which he is hiding somewhere on the field,” Shreyas said. “He is hoping to come and bowl and deliver for the team. He is waiting for me to call him all the time.
“Russell has been lucky for us. Almost in a majority of the games, whenever he has bowled, he has picked up the wickets and he has given us the breakthrough.”
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