Kolkata Knight Riders' Venkatesh Iyer celebrates his half century. (PTI Photo)
NEW DELHI:
Kolkata Knight Riders
’ (KKR) batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer once again proved to be
Sunrisers Hyderabad
’s (SRH) nemesis, smashing his third consecutive half-century against them in the IPL. The left-hander’s 60 off just 29 balls at Eden Gardens on Thursday helped KKR post a competitive 200/6 in their IPL 2025 clash.
With this innings, Iyer joined an elite list of batters who have scored three or more consecutive fifties against SRH in the IPL. Only Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson, with four back-to-back fifties against SRH, and Faf du Plessis, who also notched three against them, have achieved this feat before.
Also See: KKR vs SRH
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Iyer’s remarkable run against SRH includes 51 (28) in the 2024 Qualifier 1 and 52 (26) in last year’s final. His latest knock was a blistering display of stroke play that gave KKR a strong foundation.
Reflecting on his innings during the mid-innings chat, Iyer acknowledged the challenging conditions: "It was evident that the ball was holding up a bit, not the Eden I have played over the last two years. I think this is a very competitive score. If we bowl and field well, we should win this."
Most consecutive 50+ scores against SRH
- 4 - Sanju Samson (2021-23)
- 3 - Faf du Plessis (2022-24)
- 3 - Venkatesh Iyer (2024-25)*
He credited his teammates for setting up the platform: "I was watching the match from the screen, it wasn’t easy to play shots. The ball was holding a bit, but Ajinkya (Rahane) and Angkrish (Raghuvanshi) were really good to set up the innings for us."
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Iyer also highlighted the impact of domestic cricket on players' development: "It helps a lot that the BCCI has made it mandatory for everyone to play domestic cricket. It gives us a good chance of playing against quality bowlers, and you've seen so many bowlers coming around. It’s very challenging playing against them."
KKR’s total of 200/6 was built on Iyer’s explosive knock, along with contributions from Ajinkya Rahane (38),
Angkrish Raghuvanshi
(50), and Rinku Singh (32).
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