IPL 2023: Venkatesh Iyer Slams Maiden Century, Finally Ends 15-Year Wait For KKR

Venkatesh Iyer produced a brilliant performance to score his maiden century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 during the encounter between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on Sunday. The left-hander came into bat quite early after the dismissal of N Jagadeesan and he looked quite comfortable against the MI bowling attack. The innings was adorned with 6 boundaries and nine sixes with most of his runs coming from beautiful cricketing shots. He stitched together decent partnerships with Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh before eventually getting dismissed by Riley Meredith.

This was the second century for KKR in the history of the IPL since Brendon McCullum slammed 158 in the very first match of the tournament against Royal Challengers Bangalore. While there have been some 90-plus scores, this was the first time since 2008 that a KKR batter scored a ton in the competition.

Mumbai Indians stand-in Skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first.

In the absence of MI captain Rohit Sharma, who decided to sit out the match with a stomach bug, Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side on to the field. While Arjun Tendulkar will also makes his IPL debut for MI. KKR made no changes to their playing eleven.

Mumbai Indians would have been boosted with their win in their last fixture against Delhi Capitals. In contrast, Kolkata Knight Riders are coming into this match after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 23 runs.

Suryakumar said at the toss, "Will love to bowl first, the wicket looks dry. The ball comes onto the bat nicely later. Rohit is out, he has a stomach bug. Time to put up a good show. We are going with one change, Duan Jansen comes in, rest all is same."

Kolkata Knight Riders Skipper Nitish Rana said after the coin did not flip in his favour, "We were going to bat first anyways. The mood in the dressing room is good, need to improve our bowling. We believe we can chase 200-210. The ball might turn in the second innings I think. One player can't win you a tournament, it's a team sport. It's good for us, that everyone is scoring runs. We'll target to score around 180 on this wicket, we are playing with the same team."

(With ANI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Venkatesh Iyer Brendon McCullum Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2023 Cricket