“When you play in front of such a big crowd, you have to narrow down your focus,” Krunal said at the post-match presentation. “That’s what I did when I came back in the second over [after conceding 15 runs in a wicketless first over]. I narrowed down the focus on where I wanted to bowl. If you get hit, you should only get hit on a good ball.”
One of those was Iyer, who was surprised by a fizzy bouncer earlier that forced him to call for a helmet. “You have to go with the flow,” Krunal said. “How cricket is evolving, skillsets of batters are evolving, they have the ability to hit good shots consistently, so you’ve got to make sure you up your game.
“One of the reasons for bowling quick was I wanted to give less time [to the batters]. Change of pace is something you associate with me also. Jitesh [Sharma, the wicketkeeper] knows I can do anything anytime, a wide yorker or a bouncer. He’s well aware of it. If you have something in your armoury to use to your advantage, why not?”
“It was pretty clear for me we wanted the wicket of Andre Russell,” Patidar said. “I didn’t mind him giving runs, he was our main bowler and I backed him. All credit to the bowlers. After 13 overs, they [KKR] were 130 or something [131]. From there they showed courage. That was amazing.”
Meanwhile, KKR captain Rahane rued losing wickets in clusters after the ten-over mark. Following the 103-run stand between Narine and Rahane, KKR lost regular wickets to finish on 174 for 8.
“When me and Venkatesh were batting, we thought 210-220 was achievable, but two-three wickets changed the momentum. There was a little bit of dew, yes, but they had a good powerplay. I thought 170-180 on this wicket was under par, we were looking to get 200-plus. Early wickets in the powerplay help, but it didn’t work out for us.”
