Finch: “Watching KKR just try to knock it around was really weird.”

Venkatesh Iyer’s lack of purpose during the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) 199-run chase against Gujarat Titans (GT) has been questioned by Aaron Finch and Cheteshwar Pujara. With KKR 43 for 2 in the sixth over, Venkatesh came in at No. 4, but he found it difficult to get going against GT’s spinners and was dismissed by Sai Kishore for a 14 from 19 balls without hitting a boundary.

KKR lost by 39 runs as the rest of the lineup struggled as well.

Finch stated, “You need to have an intent to take it [spin] down,” on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out. “If your first instinct is to just run one and knock it into the leg side, you won’t be able to hit a six or a boundary if you’re not trying. The lack of intent was captivating, and you’re on a hiding to nothing.”

With the exception of captain Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 50 off 36, none of the other batters in KKR’s lengthy batting lineup reached the 30-mark. Angkrish Raghuvanshi batted at number nine on the day. Venkatesh was placed ahead of Raghuvanshi as a left-hand option to counter GT’s spinners, while Raghuvanshi, who entered as an Impact Player, has been moved up and down the order. Pujara believed that Venkatesh should have received clear instructions from the coaching staff on how to approach his innings.

“There are times when, as a batter, you feel that the conditions are a little challenging,” Pujara stated. “When you have a timeout, the coaches and support staff intervene and you come up with a different plan, saying, ‘This is something which is not working, we are leaving too many runs behind.'” You just want to bang it about. Venkatesh didn’t perform the part he was supposed to, and I agree with that. However, was he also informed that he didn’t have to take on Rashid and that he only needed to knock around while he was bowling? What the message was, I’m not sure.”

KKR entered the match having lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur, where they were unable to chase down 112. They were leading the chase at 62 for 2, but they fell apart badly against Yuzvendra Chahal.

After ten overs, KKR was 68 for 2, and the needed rate skyrocketed to 13.10. Given what had transpired against PBKS, were they hesitant to take on GT spinners head-on? Or did they simply misjudge the pursuit? By that point, Finch thought the game was finished.

“They had nine batters in their team,” Finch stated. “That immediately indicates to me that they would start off extremely aggressively, attempting to reach or beyond the [needed] run rate so that there is leeway for error when the wicket deteriorates. That, in my opinion, was just an extremely bad estimate of how to approach a 200-run chase. You don’t have to rebuild anything because there are nine batters.

“After ten [overs], the game was done, right? They simply allowed the necessary run rate to spiral out of control. Seeing them merely attempting to knock it around was really odd. An extremely peculiar innings.

“They went out with the intention not to lose by 100 runs. “You know what, let’s get 160 and we’ll walk off,” was the prevailing sentiment. That will be acceptable to us. That batting performance was awful.

Pujara thought that KKR’s bowling had also not been up to mark.

“It wasn’t a kind of pitch where you leave too many runs behind,” he stated. “You could score 60–70 runs in the final five overs, but it wasn’t a flat pitch. There was enough spin on it to suggest that they did not bowl well in the first innings. Around 180 is where they ought to have been pursuing. You are constantly chasing the game on that pitch if you are giving up more than 10 runs per over in the final ten. At the very least, you must score nearly 90 runs in the first ten.