IPL 2025: Finch, Pujara Question Venkatesh Iyer's Intent Following GT Loss – Cricket.com

It was yet another loss for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 as they succumbed to a 39-run loss against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on April 21 (Monday). Former cricketers Aaron Finch and Cheteshwar Pujara were especially critical of the way KKR's 23.75 crore buy Venkatesh Iyer fared in the match. The duo feel that the southpaw did not show any intent while chasing a daunting target of 199.
Also Read: Is The 23.75 Crore Price Tag Pulling Venkatesh Iyer Down?
Iyer walked in at 43/2 in the sixth over, but struggled to get going and eventually perished without hitting a boundary in his 19-ball stay, in which he managed just 14. "You need to have an intent to take it [spin] down," Finch said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out. 
"You can't hit a six or a boundary if you're not trying to, if your first instinct is to just knock it into the leg side and run one. Then you're on a hiding to nothing and it was just mesmerising, the lack of intent."
Pujara feels that the communication between Iyer and the KKR coaching staff should be clear as to how he should approach the innings. "There are times when, as a batter, you feel that the conditions are a little challenging," Pujara said. 
"You just want to knock it around, but when you have a timeout, the coaches and the support staff come in and you make another strategy, that 'this is something which is not working, we are leaving too many runs behind'. I do agree that Venkatesh didn't play the role which he should have played. But at the same time, was he told that he just had to knock around when Rashid was bowling, and he didn't have to take him on? I don't know what the message was."
Finch, who led Australia to the T20 World Cup title in 2021, reckons that the game was over at the halfway stage of the chase when the asking rate shot up to over 13. "They had nine batters in their team," Finch said. 
"That automatically tells me they are going to be ultra aggressive at the start, try to get up to or ahead of the [required] run rate, so that when the wicket deteriorates, there's room for error. For me, that was just a really poor calculation of how to go about a run chase of 200. There are nine batters, you don't need to rebuild anything.
"The game was over after 10 [overs], wasn't it? They just let the required run rate get so far out of hand. It was so strange to watch them just trying to knock it around. Very, very strange innings.
"They went out with the attitude not to lose by 100 runs. It was almost like, 'You know what, let's get 160, and we'll walk off. We'll be okay with that.' That was a horrible batting display."
Pujara further criticised the KKR bowling, saying that they should not have been chasing more than 180. "It wasn't a kind of pitch where you leave too many runs behind," he said. 
"It wasn't a flat pitch where in the last five overs you can get 60-70 runs. It looks like they didn't bowl well in the first innings because there was enough turn on it. They should have been chasing somewhere around 180. On that pitch, if you are leaving more than ten runs an over in the last ten, then you are always chasing the game. You at least have to be close to 90-odd runs in the first 10."
KKR, who failed to chase 112 in their previous game against Punjab Kings (PBKS), will hope to get their IPL 2025 campaign back on track when they take on Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 29 (Tuesday) in Delhi.
Is The 23.75 Crore Price Tag Pulling Venkatesh Iyer Down?
Gaurav Nandan Tripathi
Jos Buttler The Finisher? England Star Shines After Gill, Sudharsan's Brilliance
cricket.com staff
IPL 2025: How Shivam Dube Cut Loose After A Slow Start Against MI
Pramod Ananth
Resurrected Padikkal Brings Out Aggressive Avatar To Stun Punjab
cricket.com staff
Need Yorkers In Clutch Situation? Call M̶i̶t̶c̶h̶e̶l̶l̶ S̶t̶a̶r̶c̶ Avesh Khan
Aakash Sivasubramaniam
'Champion' Yuzvendra Chahal Bounces Back After Bleak Start
Pramod Ananth
Cold, Calm In Chaos – Mitchell Starc Is The Final Boss Of Clutch Moments
Hardik Worah
Xavier Bartlett Interview: IPL Exposure Will Help Push My Australia Case
Anirudh Suresh
IPL: 3 IPL 2025 Coaches You Didn't Know, Played The First Season Of The League
cricket.com staff
How Delhi Capitals Went Down To Mumbai Indians Despite Karun Nair's Heroics
Pramod Ananth

source