da 888casino： Iyer has a strike rate of over 200 this season and has even overcome his weakness against the short ball
da wazamba： Himanshu Agrawal14-Apr-20252:13
How Shreyas Iyer overcame his weakness against short ball
Big picture – Shreyas Iyer faces his former teamLess than a year back, Shreyas Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title. On Tuesday in IPL 2025 in Mullanpur, Iyer will line up against KKR, this time as the captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS).Ahead of IPL 2025, KKR retained six players, but Iyer wasn’t in that list. A shift to a new team and his reunion with coach Ricky Ponting have helped Iyer unlock his best.In IPL 2024, Iyer had a strike rate of 146.86 and in this season, he has lifted it to 208.33, the highest among Indian batters who have faced at least 100 balls this season. Overall, only Nicholas Pooran has a higher strike rate than Iyer under this condition. Iyer has also overcome his short-ball weakness, putting the fast bowlers away.He and PBKS will be up against the best spin-bowling side so far this season. Iyer might have faced a fair bit of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy at the KKR nets, and is yet to fall to spin this season.Narine and Varun have bowled 41 of KKR’s 49 overs of spin, in a department where KKR’s average (20.62) and economy rate (6.73) are far superior to the second-best side.Overall, though, both PBKS (three wins in five matches) and KKR (three wins in six) have been inconsistent. Iyer and his former team will hope they can improve on that before it gets too late.Form GuidePunjab Kings LWLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Kolkata Knight Riders WLWLW2:33
Chawla: Not the Chahal we’re used to seeing
Team news and likely XIIsLockie Ferguson is all but out of the IPL with an injury he picked up against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and his absence will alter PBKS’ overseas combination. They could instead play Xavier Bartlett, a frontline quick, or one of pace-bowling allrounders Azmatullah Omarzai or Aaron Hardie.Punjab Kings (probable): 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai/Aaron Hardie, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yash ThakurKKR are entering the contest against PBKS after consigning Chennai Super Kings to a record fifth successive defeat. Narine, Varun and Moeen Ali had a feast on a spin-friendly pitch in Chepauk, and with spinners averaging 30.12 in Mullanpur this season, PBKS, too, could be tested by the trio.Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Moeen Ali, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Vaibhav Arora, 12 Varun ChakravarthyIn the spotlight – Yuzvendra Chahal and Ajinkya RahaneWhile KKR’s spinners have been terrific, PBKS’ Yuzvendra Chahal is yet to hit form. He has bowled 15 overs in five games, with an average of 83.50 and economy rate of 11.13. Chahal bagged at least 18 wickets every season from 2019 to 2024. He remains the highest wicket-taker in IPL history, and PBKS will bank on his experience to come good soon.Ajinkya Rahane is the only KKR batter to score 200 runs this season. CSK freed him up in 2023 and 2024, and since then, he finished as the highest run-getter at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25. Rahane’s dismissal for 61 in KKR’s chase of 239 against Lucknow Super Giants turned the game around and set them up for a narrow defeat at Eden Gardens.The big questionPBKS spent INR 18 crore on Chahal, and another INR 4.2 crore on Glenn Maxwell. Apart from Chahal being ineffective with the ball, Maxwell has scored just 34 runs in four innings. PBKS will need them to fire if they are to progress deeper into the tournament.Pitch and conditionsBoth games played in Mullanpur this season have seen 200-plus scores batting first. Each time, the team batting first went on to successfully defend it. Don’t rule out a big total on Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to slide to 27 degrees Celsius in the evening after rising to 38 degrees in the morning.Stats and Trivia The last time PBKS and KKR played each other, PBKS successfully chased a T20 record 262 at Eden Gardens. Overall, though, KKR have a clear 21-12 advantage over PBKS. Iyer dominates the head-to-head T20 numbers against his former IPL team-mates Narine (42 runs off 35 balls) and Varun (38 off 22). Both bowlers have dismissed Iyer once each.KKR are yet to register a fifty-run opening partnership in six innings. Their highest remains 46, which Quinton de Kock and Narine had added while chasing 104 in the last game against CSK. Quotes”I think Ajinkya Rahane brings a lot of calmness in the dugout. He’s the type of player that every youngster should idolise. His personality, the way he keeps himself around the game, everyone knows how he performs. Meanwhile, Shreyas has a very confident nature, executes his plans. I don’t think there’s anything lacking in either of them. But their game of play is different.”
